Showing posts with label Hachette Book Group. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Kitty Raises Hell by Carrie Vaughn Blog Tour

Kitty Raises Hell

Full Description

Sometimes what happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas. ... more

About Author

Carrie Vaughn had the nomadic childhood of the typical Air Force brat, with stops in California, Florida, North Dakota, Maryland, and Colorado. She holds a Masters in English Literature and collects hobbies, fencing and sewing are currently high on the list. She lives in Boulder, Colorado. Her website is www.carrievaughn.com.

http://unmainstreammomreads.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

BLOG TOUR : Galway Bay by Mary Pat Kelly

Galway Bay by Mary Pat Kelly

Full Description

Here at last is one Irish family's epic journey, capturing the tragedy and triumph of the Irish-American experience. In a rousing tale that echoes the myths and legends of Ireland herself, young Honora Keeley and Michael Kelly wed and start a family, inhabiting a hidden Ireland where fishermen and tenant farmers find solace in their ancient faith, songs, stories, and communal celebrations. Selling both their catch--and their crops--to survive, these people subsist on the potato crop--their only staple food. But when blight destroys the potatoes three times in four years, a callous government and uncaring landlords turn a natural disaster into The Great Starvation that will kill one million. Honora and Michael vow their children will live. The family joins two million other Irish refugees in one of the greatest rescues in human history: the Irish Emigration to America. Danger and hardship await them there. Honora and her unconventional sister Maire watch their seven sons as they transform Chicago from a frontier town to the "City of the Century", fight the Civil War, and enlist in the cause of Ireland's freedom. The Kelly clan is victorious. This heroic story sheds brilliant light on the ancestors of today's 44 million Irish Americans.

In the author's colorful and eclectic life, she has written and directed award-winning documentaries on Irish subjects, as well as the dramatic feature Proud. She's been an associate producer on Good Morning America and Saturday Night Live, written books on Martin Scorsese, World War II, and Bosnia, and a novel based on her experiences as a former nun - Special Intentions. She is a frequent contributor to Irish America Magazine and has a PhD in English and Irish literature.

http://www.marypatkelly.com/blog/index.asp

Blog Talk Radio

Upcoming Show: 3/17/2009 11:00 AM

Host Name:	grandcentralpub
Show Name:	Live St. Patrick's Day Interview with Mary Pat Kelly author of GALWAY BAY
Length:	1 hr
Description: h:27517 s:432669	Mary Pat Kelly is the author of a novel Special Intentions, and nonfiction on subjects as varied as Martin Scorcese and the rescue of Scott O'Grady from Bosnia. In her life, she has been everything from a nun to a documentary filmmaker to a producer of short films for "Saturday Night Live". She lives in New York, NY. GALWAY BAY is a novel based on her own family's immigration story from Ireland to the US.

Letter from Mary Pat Kelly

Letter

The bones of GALWAY BAY come from my own family history, a story I discovered slowly over decades of research. In the beginning tracing my roots meant cranking through reels and reels of microfilm in a fruitless search. To access the U.S. Census records I needed the address where the Kelly’s first lived in Chicago, which I did not have.

Then I realized my father’s first cousin, Sister Mary Erigina, BVM might know. She did. Born Agnella Kelly in 1889, she had in fact lived with her great grandmother Honora Kelly. Agnella lived to be 107, her mind sharp and her interest keen.

Now I found the right reel. Here were the names of Honora’s children, their ages, but nothing about where they came from in Ireland. Finally I followed the trail to Galway and discovered at last the record of the birth of Honora Keeley, September 15, 1822. And the place? A fishing village right on the shores of Galway Bay. The cottages were gone but the Bay was the same. I stood on the beach looking out, and could almost see my great-great-great-grandfather John Keeley setting out in a pucán, guided by a knowledge of winds, currents, and the patterns followed by the fish themselves that he’d learned from past generations. I went to the site of the fish market in Galway City and imagined Honora and her mother selling the catch under the Spanish Arch, bargaining and trading, handling money. Rare for women of that time. How did that shape their character? read more...

The Potato Famine: A Memorial

My Thoughts

Galway Bay is an extremely well written book. This novel may be based upon the history of Mary Pat Kelly's family and the story of their starvation in Ireland during The Potato Famine in the 19^Th century but it doesn't read like a dry-as-dust history tome. I was thoroughly caught up in the narrative and shocked, saddened and inspired by this family. This family's history is just one triumphant saga of the horrific moment in history when the Irish people were almost wiped out by the potato blight that killed off their only food source. A very enjoyable read.

Please visit the other stops on this blog tour:

http://2kidsandtired books.blogspot.com

Monday, March 16, 2009

Live St. Patrick's Day Interview with Mary Pat Kelly author of GALWAY BAY

Time: March 17, 2009 from 11am to 12pm

Live St Patricks Day Interview with Mary Pat Kelly author of GALWAY BAY...here

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Houston, We Have a Problema by Gwendolyn Zepeda

Product Description
Jessica Luna is your typical 26 year old: she has man trouble, mom trouble, and not a clue what to do with her life (though everyone else in her family seems to have plenty of suggestions!) After a lifetime of being babied by her family, Jess is incapable of trusting herself to make the right choices. So instead, she bases all of her life decisions on signs. She looks to everything for guidance, from the direction her rearview-mirror-Virgin-de-Guadalupe sways to whatever Madame Hortensia, her psychic, sees in the cards.

My Thoughts

I whipped through this book in less than a day. Of course it helps that I am home sick in bed with the flu. Thanks Madeleine!
This was such an enjoyable read. I really liked Jessica for many reasons-she was funny, endearing, vulnerable and completely clueless about her future. Jessica stumbled through her life...falling into jobs, boyfriends and falling in and out of favour with her family. She keeps going to see this local psychic who takes her $20/visit and scams her. Is she for real or isn't she?
Jessica seems to want somebody else to decide for her about her career and her love life while she hangs around waiting for........?
Gwendolyn Zepeda has a hit on her hands with this, her debut novel. There were many chuckles and giggles as I read this but also some sighs of recognition as Jessica seemed to embody many of the character traits in my own personality... the part that I will never admit to! Why is it that we all seem to need confirmation about ourselves? Why do we ask another person to tell us what we SHOULD do with our lives??? Is there a possibility that we are sometimes looking for a "fall guy"?
An easy read but very enjoyable.
Thank you Miriam and Hachette Books.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Blog Tour of Flirting With Forty by Jane Porter

Book

Full Description

He got the second home and the Porsche. She got the kids and a broken heart. Now Jackie, post-divorce and heading toward the big four-oh, is on vacation in sunny Hawaii and staring down her upcoming birthday-alone. But not for long. She's soon falling for Kai, her gorgeous, much younger surf instructor, and the wild passionate fling they have becomes the biggest surprise of Jackie's life.

Back home in Seattle, Jackie has to struggle with single parenthood...and memories of Kai. He hasn't forgotten her. Yet thousands of miles of ocean-not to mention an age difference that feels even wider-separate them. And, of course, her friends disapprove. When a choice must be made, can she, will she risk everything for her chance at happiness

Visit all sites on the blog tour to experience Hawaii from

Flirting With Forty

My Friend Amy

Bermudaonion's Weblog

Book Critiques
Sharon Loves Books and Cats
The Tome Traveller
The Printed Page
A Bookworm's World
Books,Movies and Chinese Food
Allison's Attic
S. Krishna's Books
Literarily
Booking Mama
Cheryl's Book Nook
cindysloveofbooks
B & b exlibris
Marjolein Book Blog
Bookopolis
A Novel Menagerie
Wendi's Book Corner
The Book Czar
The Book Girl
A Circle of Books
Books in Every Room
A Blog of Books For You
Book Ahoy!
Enroute to Life
At Home With Books

Movie Debut:

Saturday December 6th, 2008 at 9PM on Lifetime

Jane Porter and Heather Locklear

My Thoughts

I really enjoy linking with other blogs and discussing the same book together in a tour.
Hachette Books has enabled us to set this up and it is thrilling.
The book itself is an easy read and it flows quite well. It seems to have been semi-autobiographical with a possible few added twists.
I enjoyed the book but the story that it tells is a sad and familiar one. I frankly don`t think that this book is Jane Porter`s best story or effort but that might have been because the story has been 'done to death'! The charm of a Jane Porter novel though is in the writing and her characters which are warm and reach out to you.
Jackie is a very appealing heroine, beautiful and capable and needing a change but while I didn`t agree with all of the choices that she made I agree that it was HER right to make them. She needed to find her place in the world as a woman.....she needs to find herself after living in a cocoon and losing herself in the day to day drudgery of living with a man who doesn't appreciate her.
This is 3 out of 5 stars.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

This One is Mine by Maria Semple

From the Publisher:

Violet Parry is living the quintessential life of luxury in the Hollywood Hills with David, her rock-and-roll manager husband, and her darling toddler, Dot. She has the perfect life--except that she's deeply unhappy. David expects the world of Violet but gives little of himself in return. When she meets Teddy, a roguish small-time bass player, Violet comes alive, and soon she's risking everything for the chance to find herself again. Also in the picture are David's hilariously high-strung sister, Sally, on the prowl for a successful husband, and Jeremy, the ESPN sportscaster savant who falls into her trap. For all their recklessness, Violet and Sally will discover that David and Jeremy have a few surprises of their own. This One Is Mine is a compassionate and wickedly funny satire about our need for more--and the often disastrous choices we make in the name of happiness.

My Thoughts

I read this book but I didn't really enjoy it. I felt next to no sympathy for Violet.
How does someone who is living the perfect life make such bad choices?
She was this extremely capable woman who following the birth of her child...packed up all her self confidence and threw it out with the trash.
I guess that it fits the image of a woman on the edge......someone who behaves erratically wih little regard for those around her but the book felt too contrived to me and made me uncomfortable.

I can understand some of her choices like looking outside of her marriage when David was treating her so badly but she jumped out of the fire into the frying pan with Teddy. He was treating her worse! Why would she put herself into that situation?

I enjoyed the references to Jeremy with his Aspberger's syndrome. This is a timely diagnosis that is becoming more relevent daily. Many children in the school system are currently undergoing testing for this little known type of autism.
2 out of 5 stars

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Get Positively Beautiful by Carmindy

It's always best to have a positive attitude towards one's self, and whether your empowerment lies in mind or body, it's a good practice to try and nurture both. Whether it's fixing up everyday or getting ready for that special evening, let these books guide the way to a fabulous you.

In GET POSITIVELY BEAUTIFUL, makeup artist Carmindy, from TLC’s hit show What Not to Wear shows you how to change your mindset from negative fault-finding to a positive beauty philosophy. You learn how to find and focus on your best features and how to combat negative thoughts about your appearance. Carmindy demonstrates easy makeup techniques for the eyes, brows, lips, cheeks, and skin, and how to adapt looks to different weather conditions and “beauty moods.”

Completely unique, GET POSITIVELY BEAUTIFUL mixes self-help and makeup how-to in this total beauty book.

Carmindy has appeared on The Today Show, CBS Sunday Morning, CBN, as well as in The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, Elle, O, Glamour, InStyle, and many more prominent men’s and women’s fashion magazines.

Check out Carmindy’s website: www.carmindy.com

My Thoughts

I have been following makeup trends since I was old enough to wear my first aqua eyeshadow at the advanced age of 11. My mother was having a portrait painted of me and she bought me this great wool vest (the 70s) with a gradated shading of colour from pale aqua to deep teal. Mom bought me the eye shadow to match. I felt like a princess...I felt so beautiful that day that every time I see that portrait...I am transported back to that specific moment in time when I felt so special-frozen in a moment of true beauty.
What made me feel so special was the glow that I had from being utterly convinced that I was the prettiest girl in the mall that day. This was many years before the destructive power of self bashing became de rigueur in my life.
This is my long winded attempt at trying to pair a personal analogy of myself with the positive message of Carmindy's new book. We need to teach ourselves how to promote our own positive messages and mantras that will cancel out all those critical feelings about our own beauty. We need to understand that we are ALL unique in our beauty and that we don't need to look perfectly airbrushed like someone from a magazine or tv show to be truly beauteous.
Carmindy has combined this positive mantra with glossy pictures and tips that keep the book useful as well. She also shows some makeovers of women who haven't always made the best choices with their looks and how to accent what makes them uniquely appealing.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading through this book.
4 out of 5 stars

Monday, November 24, 2008

Makeup Manual by Bobbi Brown

BOBBI BROWN'S MAKEUP MANUAL

Full Description

This is the book that Bobbi Brown's fans have been waiting for: her 25-plus years of makeup styling experience distilled into one complete, gorgeous book. Bobbi looks at everything from skincare basics to every aspect of facial makeup--from how to find the right color and type of foundation for any skin tone to how to apply every detail of eye makeup (Brows, Eye Liner, Eye Shadow, and Eye Lashes) no matter your eye color and shape. Of course there are never-before-seen tips on blush, bronzer, lip liners, lipstick, etc. And Bobbi looks beyond the face with informative chapters on "Hands and Feet" and "Body Skin Care." Each chapter has thorough step-by-step basic directions for makeup application and easy-to-follow photographs and line drawings, along with Bobbi's expert, yet assuring, advice. Plus, there's a groundbreaking section of the book that will be of special interest to women who've wanted to know how makeup stylists do what they do: the top beauty secrets only these artists know, essential equipment to keep on hand, how to break into the business, and how to work with photographers and celebrities.

Breathtaking photos of the finished faces-from everyday looks to exotic runway style-along with advice on putting it all together for every woman, make this a book like no other.

BOBBI BROWN'S MAKEUP MANUAL will be the only book any woman will need to look absolutely fabulous.

My Thoughts

I am the kind of woman who is in love with makeup and have been since my early teens. Back then I was crazy about aqua eyeshadow and would put it all over my eyelids and feel beautiful! It wasn't long before I tamed my look considerably and the only eyeshadow I love now is a discrete taupe and/or beige.
I haven't completely lost my artistic sensibilities ....I just now paint murals for artistic expression and not my face.
This is a beautiful book. I enjoyed leafing through it and the pictures are incredibly glossy and magazine-like but it didn't seem to have much more information in it that hasn't already been printed before....even by Bobbi Brown herself.
Beautiful book but only a 2.5 stars out of 5 for lack of originality.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenbur

Eight years in the making, THE FLAVOR BIBLE is a landmark book that will inspire the greatest creations of innovative cooks and chefs by serving as an indispensable guide to creativity and flavor affinities in today's kitchen.

Cuisine is undergoing a startling historic transformation: With the advent of the global availability of ingredients, dishes are no longer based on geography but on flavor. This radical shift calls for a new approach to cooking — as well as a new genre of "cookbook" that serves not to document classic dishes via recipes, but to inspire the creation of new ones focused on imaginative and harmonious flavor combinations.

THE FLAVOR BIBLE is your guide to hundreds of ingredients along with the herbs, spices, and other seasonings that will allow you to coax the greatest possible flavor and pleasure from them. This astonishing reference distills the combined experience of dozens of America's most innovative culinarians, representing such celebrated restaurants as A Voce, Babbo, Blue Hill, Cafe Atlantico, Chanterelle, Citronelle, Gramercy Tavern, The Herbfarm, Jardiniere, Jean Georges, Le Bernardin, The Modern, Moto, and The Trellis.

You'll learn to:

* explore the individual roles played by the four basic tastes — salty, sour, bitter and sweet — and how to bring them into harmony;

* work more intuitively and effectively with ingredients by discovering which flavors have the strongest affinities for one another;

* brighten flavors through the use of acids — from vinegars to citrus juices to herbs and spices such as kaffir lime and sumac;

* deepen or intensify flavors through the layering of specific ingredients or techniques; and

* balance the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of cooking and serving an extraordinary meal.

Seasoned with tips, anecdotes, and signature dishes from the country's most respected chefs and pastry chefs, THE FLAVOR BIBLE is an essential book for every kitchen library.

My Thoughts

Thanks to Anna Balasi from Hachette for sending me this book to review and peruse.
It isn't a cookbook. What it is is a encyclopaedia of food ingredients like chicken or beef with traditional pairings of flavors that suit them and very untraditional ingredients that will enhance and challenge your taste buds.

This is not a book for the cooking challenged...nor does it give any type of step by step instructions or directions.... but for an experienced cook who is looking for ideas and exciting food flavors...then this is your answer.
Flavors such as basil for your traditional pesto but also basil for syrups and fruits and poured over icecream. This is an empowering resource for someone experienced in the kitchen who is looking for new ideas.
The book is set up with ingredients listed alphabetically and appropriate choices and pairings listed with each...the best bolded to allow easier experimentation.

Thank you for this invaluable resource...a beautiful book to add to my cooking library

Love in The Tropics… A Contest over at A Novel Menagerie

Falling In Love on A Tropical Island… Watching Sexy Surfers Ride the Surf… Mai Tai’s At Sunset… Those Long Romantic Walks on the Beach… ♥ What Could Be Better?

I remember going to Mexico when I was 22. What a great time!
Too many margaritas though!!!

ME!

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Odd Mom Out by Jane Porter

From Jane Porter’s blog:

Marta Zinsser grew up in a conservative, old Seattle suburb and couldn't wait to leave for New York, where she thrived as an independent woman with no need for men -- even when she decided to have a baby. Ten years later when her mother becomes ill, Marta realizes that this may be her daughter's last chance to get to know her grandmother and returns to Seattle, taking up residence on the affluent, technology-drenched Eastside, filled now by snobby old money families and even snobbier nouveau riche. Enrolling Eva in the local school, Marta accedes to her daughter's wishes and agrees to join the PTA despite being horrified by the fancy moms that dominate it. With wealthy husbands, massive homes, nannies, no jobs, and their own hierarchy, the fancy moms have no intention of letting a bohemian mom like Marta in to their private circle. Will Marta be able to carve a niche for both herself and Eva? And when gorgeous maverick Luke Flynn appears in Marta's line of vision, will she find love after keeping it at arm's length all this time?

My Thoughts

Reading this was quite painful at times. I knew only too well what it feels like to be the one on the outside and for me it has been a lifelong estrangement. The best thing about becoming a grownup though has been to find peace in myself and acceptance for the quirks that I am full of. Marta finds her own peace by the end of the story and the ride is a hilarious one. What is especially hard to deal with though is her daughter Eva. Eva believes that her mother needs to find acceptance by the local PTA to lead a fulfilling life and she works on trying to change and mold her mother into a coiffed clone of all the other mothers.
Thank God that Marta convinced her that to be yourself is the truest way to happiness and internal contentment and that sometimes to be accepted by the wrong people can create conflicts within yourself.
Especially poignant moments include her mother’s descent into dementia with Alzheimer’s and the struggle that the three generations have in dealing with it.
Of all of Jane Porter’s novels I enjoyed this one the most probably because I most identified with it. Maybe there is something of the Odd Mom Out in all of us.
I give this a 4 out of 5 stars.

The Frog Prince by Jane Porter

From the Publisher

Jane Porter makes a delightful mainstream debut with this funny and touching story about a woman who must begin again after her fairy tale marriage falls apart. Holly Bishop is the proverbial, small-town good girl. She always follows the rules, thinks of others first, and she never, ever makes mistakes. Until she marries the man she thought was her Prince Charming, who confesses on their honeymoon that he’s not sexually attracted to her. Now, 14 months later, Holly’s marriage is in the toilet, along with her self-esteem. Determined to start over, she moves to San Francisco, where she must navigate the landmines of dating in the big city. In the shadow of the Golden Gate and amid a population of wacky Bay Area eccentrics, Holly will discover that nice girls don't always finish last. In fact, they sometimes end up with everything they'd ever wanted.

My Thoughts

I have signed up to do a blog tour of Jane Porter’s “Flirting with Forty” on December 5th, 2008 in time for the book’s rerelease and the debut of the movie of the same name.
The publishing company Hachette Books sent me all of Jane Porter’s books so that I may have a real taste of the range of her stories and I am quite impressed.
Jane Porter has been writing novels for Harlequin for a number of years and has developed quite a following which I am sure has also made the transition into more mainstream chick lit with her.
The Frog Prince is a delightful foray into female territory. Holly the heroine is recovering from a quickie marriage that had promised to be the stuff that fairy tales are made of but on her honeymoon her husband informed her that he didn’t want her sexually and didn’t really love her and he was sorry but they would never work.
What is lovely about this story is that her ex-husband never redeems himself…it just becomes easier to see what a toad he really was. I really love the play on the French husband-frog and the fairytale of ‘kiss a frog to find your prince’. Jean-Marc will never be anything but a self centered baser creature disguised as suave.
I love how Holly grows into her new self and becomes that pinnacle of female adulthood-someone who is happy within herself and confident again to trust her own instincts.
I give this a 3 out of 5 stars

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Upcoming Reviews

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Life After Genius Blog Tour

Life After Genius by M. Ann Jacoby

Received from Hachette Book Group to review for a blog tour. This book goes on sale today and it is well worth the buy. I found the book delightful with strong characters that move towards a meaningful climax and resolution. This book doesn't read like an author's debut...it's voice reads like a well crafted finale.
Mead, as Teddy prefers to be called now, is the epitome of the underdog. He makes every mistake in the book...pun intended, but every experience is a learning curve and he handles bullying, intimidation, alienation from his family and academic dishonesty all with the same aplomb that he handles his genius. What wouldn't he give to have it all taken away-to not be different ever again?
He tends to find out what the treasures of life are after he has lost his chance at them. Like the chance to really bond with his cousin who he never really trusted. He feels guilt about everything; he is letting his parents down...his mom wants him to conquer the world and his dad just wants him to find worthwhile work; his academic advisor and dean, they want him to publish an incredible finding to bring prestige to the college; his uncle and aunt who wish that he had been the one who died and he himself because he has never allowed himself to go after what he truly wants.
Meeting many other

characters along the way, who all have their own stories to tell and agendas, Mead stumbles through his life feeling apart from others until he is due to graduate from college and the world crumbles around him.
Mead embodies a young man with visible vulnerabilities and hidden strengths but a huge resolve to find a place for himself in his own life.
I give this a 5 out of 5 stars and I recommend this book to anyone looking for a satisfying read.

Life After Genius My Space

Author Bio
I was not much of a reader as a kid preferring to live in my own make-believe world of characters and situations. Hours would go by like seconds. I didn’t want to stop playing to eat or sleep. Then in my twenties I started reading a lot of trashy romance novels. Somewhere along the line I bored of those, revisited my college edition of American Literature: The Makers and the Making Vol. II and discovered Sherwood Anderson. I went back and reread Catcher in the Rye (which I surely must have read in high school) and loved it. I read and fell in love with Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler and Talk Before Sleep by Elizabeth Berg. I decided to try Tolstoy. I read Anna Karenina and was surprised by how much I enjoyed this Russian classic. I was like a hungry person at an all-you-can-eat buffet. I tasted a lot of different books putting aside those that didn’t please the palate and going back for seconds and thirds on those that did. Throughout the process of writing Life After Genius, I often referred to Stones for Ibarra by Harriet Doerr and Death of Sweet Mister by Daniel Woodrell, reading a chapter here or a paragraph there for inspiration. Or sometimes I’d pop into the DVD player one of my favorite movies. Elling, which is a Norwegian film. Son of the Bride, which is Argentinian. Or You Can Count on Me. Or Midnight Run. Or Terms of Endearment. I love smart, observant, small moments. Heart-rending moments sprinkled with humor. Quirky characters. These are what send me running back to my computer to write. The place I go as an adult where time loses all meaning and I have to remind myself to eat.

Check out what everybody says about Life After Genius:

A Bookworm's World
Bermudaonion's Weblog
Booking Mama
Library Queue
Marjolein Book Blog
The Book Nest
Seaside Book Worm Blogger
Linus's Blanket
Diary of an Eccentric
Savvy Verse and Wit
The Optimistic Bookfool
The Printed Page
My Friend Amy
Shooting Stars Mag
Books, Pungs, and More
A Novel Menagerie
The Tome Traveller's Weblog
The Official Chikune Website
Book Critiques
B & b ex libris
Sharon Loves Books and Cats
At Home With Books

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Life After Genius Blog Tour

Life After genius by M. Ann Jacoby

Book Description: Theodore Mead Fegley has always been the smartest person he knows. By age 12, he was in high school, and by 15 he was attending a top-ranking university. And now, at the tender age of 18, he’s on the verge of proving the Riemann Hypothesis, a mathematical equation that has mystified academics for almost 150 years. But only days before graduation, Mead suddenly packs his bags and flees home to rural Illinois. What has caused him to flee remains a mystery to all but Mead and a classmate whose quest for success has turned into a dangerous obsession.

Equal parts academic thriller and poignant coming-of-age story, LIFE AFTER GENIUS follows the remarkable journey of a young man who must discover that the heart may know what the head hasn’t yet learned.

October 29th, 2008 the day that the
"Life After Genius" Blog Tour touches down here at Books by TJ Baff and all these participating Blogs:

A Bookworm's World
Bermudaonion's Weblog
Booking Mama
Library Queue
Marjolein Book Blog
The Book Nest
Seaside Book Worm Blogger
Linus's Blanket
Diary of an Eccentric
Savvy Verse and Wit
The Optimistic Bookfool
The Printed Page
My Friend Amy
Shooting Stars Mag
Books, Pungs, and More
A Novel Menagerie
The Tome Traveller's Weblog
The Official Chikune Website
Book Critiques
B & b ex libris
Sharon Loves Books and Cats
At Home With Books

Don't miss it....mark your calendars!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

The Gate House by Nelson DeMille

I had never read any other books by Nelson DeMille so I had no warning about what was to come. Certainly his style of writing breathes life into and embodies all that is sarcastic in a protagonist and that fitted John Sutter to a T. I found John's sarcasm to be very difficult to relate to and his snideness made me feel less than sympathetic about the past events in his life. Frankly, in many ways, I am surprised that John ever had a family or friends to come back to. This book wraps up the story of the characters begun in the novel "The Gold Coast".
The book takes place on the Gold Coast on the eastern seaboard of America in the aftermath of 9/11. I only mention this because it is spoken about frequently in the book as it pertains to the changes in people's consciousness about their invincibility or lack thereof.
John has returned from London, where he has been practising law since he returned from his 3 year adventure sailing around the world. He left his home and family originally when his wife shot her lover Frank Bellarosa, a mafia don, who was testifying for the FBI. The subsequent fallout of notoriety and tabloid fame created a monster that John needed to escape from.
John returns because an old family retainer of his exwife's family, the Stanhopes, is on her deathbed and as her executor he is needed. He takes up residence in the gate house of the old family estate and is disconcerted to find that the son of the old mafia don has moved into the new housing complex that was built on the grounds of Bellarosa's estate. John knows that the son bears his exwife Susan ill will and he is worried about her despite himself. John has had very little contact with his exwife but he needs to impress upon her the seriousness of this situation but also protect himself from further reprisal.
None of the characters were very likable people throughout the entire story but I still became invested in their eventual success and the conclusion was satisfying. Despite myself, I enjoyed this novel as it appealed to the inner secret tabloid reader in me but I found the book to be too long. Reminded me of reading Harold Robbins' books in my teens.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Full Description

About Author

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Letter

Monday, March 16, 2009

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Friday, December 5, 2008

Full Description

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Monday, November 24, 2008

Full Description

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Sunday, October 5, 2008

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