Tuesday Teaser: Dirty Rotten Tendrils by Kate Collins

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Miz B of Should Be Reading and asks you to:
1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3. Share 2 "teaser"sentences also citing the title of the book and the author and in that way people can have great recommendations if they like the "teaser
4. Please avoid spoilers

This week's teaser comes from Dirty Rotten Tendrils by Kate Collins. Cody Verse, New Chapel, Indiana's home town boy now turned singing celeb, returns to settle lawsuit against his former friend in a case of intellectual theft. Cody's lawyer is the flamboyant, media-hungry Ken "the Lip" Lipinski. In front of the courthouse is a growing mob watched by main characters, Marco and Abby. Here's the teaser:

"The Lawsuit should be settled in a day or two," Marco said, coming to stand beside me with a coffee mug in his hand. "Then everything will return to normal."

Oh, Marco, if you only knew what mayhem was in store before you made this rash statement. What a fun cozy this one is! Review and giveaway October 5th. Don't miss it!

Review: An Irish Country Courtship by Patrick Taylor

In An Irish Country Courtship, it's the mid to late sixties in northern Ireland's little town of Ballybucklebo. Dr. Fingal O'Reilly and his newest assistant, Dr. Barry Laverty, live in the same house as their surgery. The housekeeper, Kinky Kincaide, keeps the doctors on their toes and is not afraid to voice her opinion. A fun character, to be sure!

The young Dr. Laverty has been seeing Patricia Spence but she breaks it off with him because she can't see herself living in such a small place where it seems everyone knows your business. She told the broken hearted Barry she would feel suffocated. As Barry walks around looking woeful and moaning oh, woe is me, Dr. O'Reilly gives him some good advice to throw himself into his work and get "on with it". He knows what it is to have a broken heart as his wife Deirdre died only 6 months after the wedding. Dr. O'Reilly has been mourning her since and that was over 20 years ago. It's time for him to move on as well and so he begins to court Kitty O'Halloran; a woman he knew long before he married Deirdre.

Dr. Laverty is tossed up as to whether he should stay and become a partner in the GP practice or should he branch out and become an OBGYN specialist. The feisty little copper-haired school teacher he recently met just might help him make up his mind and heal his broken heart along the way.

The two good doctors get involved in their patients lives as well as their healthcare. When one of Dr. O'Reilly's patients confided in him that he was being conned out of his shares in a racehorse owned by the local councillor, Bertie Bishop, Dr. O'Reilly figures out how to beat Bertie at his own game. His scheme was one of the amusing plot threads in the story.

Patrick Taylor knows how to bring ordinary people and everyday events to life and make them into a pleasant read. I enjoyed my visit with the residents of Ballybucklebo very much. It almost made me long to return to a slower way of life when doctors actually cared about their patients as people and not just as an insurance number. 4****

A lot of the dialogue is written in dialect using many unfamiliar (to me, anyway) Irish expressions and words. Taylor thoughtfully provides a glossary at the end of the book. This is Taylor's fifth book in the Irish Country series.

Diclosure: A review copy of the book was provided by Forge books through the Goodreads first look program.

Review: The Hypnotist by M.J. Rose

Hardcover: 416 pages

Publisher: Mira; 1 edition (May 1, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0778326756
ISBN-13: 978-0778326755

From the inside cover:

"Haunted by a twenty year-old murder of a beautiful young painter, Lucian Glass keeps his demons at bay through his fascinating work as a special agent with the FBI's Art Crime Team. Currently investigating a crazed art collector who has begun destroying prized masterworks, Glass is thrust into a bizarre hostage negotiations that takes him undercover at the Phoenix foundation-dedicated to the science of past life study-where, in order to maintain his cover, he agrees to submit to the treatment of a hypnotist.

Under hypnosis, Glass travels from ancient Greece to nineteenth-century Persia, while the case takes him from New York to Paris and the movie capital of the world. These journeys will change his very understanding of reality, lead him to question his own sanity and land him at the center of perhaps the most audacious art heist in history-the theft of a 1,500 year-old sculpture from the Metropolitan Museum of Art."

My Thoughts:  Although I haven't read the two preceding books, The Reincarnationist and The Memorist  I certainly plan to. The Hypnotist is a stand alone novel and I had no problem getting right into the characters  but I understand Lucian's story started in the previous books. When a book makes me want to read further about some of the plot's subjects, then I feel the author has done an amazing job. Reincarnation, ancient beliefs and the history of searching for antiquities was most interesting to  me.

The Hypnotist is a mesmerizing story with a complicated, ingenious plot that had me practically glued to the pages from the very beginning until the end. No lags in the action and not a dry spot to be seen. Twists enough to satisfy any thriller reader. It was all riveting!

 After reading so many exciting plot lines that eventually all converged together, M.J. Rose will be going on my favorite author list. What a talented writer! I just loved the characters Rose breathed life into, the several plot lines and the exotic settings. To sum it up, I just loved the book. 5*****

About the author: ( from author's website) M.J. Rose, is the international bestselling author of 11 novels;Lip Service, In Fidelity, Flesh Tones, Sheet Music, Lying in Bed, The Halo Effect, The Delilah Complex, The Venus Fix,The Reincarnationist, The Memorist and The Hypnotist.

Rose is also the co-author with Angela Adair Hoy of How to Publish and Promote Online, and with Doug Clegg of Buzz Your Book. She is a founding member and board member of International Thriller Writers and the founder of the first marketing company for authors: AuthorBuzz.com. She runs two popular blogs; Buzz, Balls & Hype and Backstory.

Getting published has been an adventure for Rose who self-published Lip Service late in 1998 after several traditional publishers turned it down. Editors had loved it, but didn't know how to position it or market it since it didn't fit into any one genre. Frustrated, but curious and convinced that there was a readership for her work, she set up a web site where readers could download her book for $9.95 and began to seriously market the novel on the Internet. After selling over 2500 copies (in both electronic and trade paper format) Lip Service became the first e-book and the first self-published novel chosen by the LiteraryGuild/Doubleday Book Club as well as being the first e-book to go on to be published by a mainstream New York publishing house.

Rose has been profiled in Time magazine, Forbes, The New York Times, Business 2.0, Working Woman, Newsweek and New York Magazine. Rose has appeared on The Today Show, Fox News, The Jim Lehrer NewsHour, and features on her have appeared in dozens of magazines and newspapers in the U.S. and abroad, including USAToday, Stern, L'Official, Poets and Writers and Publishers Weekly.

Rose graduated from Syracuse University and spent the '80s in advertising. She was the Creative Director of Rosenfeld Sirowitz and Lawson and she has a commercial in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. She lives in Connecticut with Doug Scofield, a composer, and their very spoiled dog, Winka.

Disclosure: A review copy of the book was provided by Mira Books through VBT.

Waiting on Wednesday: Casting About by Terri DuLong

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases of books we are eagerly awaiting.

Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Kensington; Original edition (October 26, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0758232055
ISBN-13: 978-0758232052

From Amazon: "In this beautifully crafted and uplifting novel, the author of the acclaimed Spinning Forward welcomes readers back to the lush Florida island of Cedar Key, where the vibrant shades of hibiscus and azaleas are the perfect backdrop to a colorful, quirky community. . .



In the four years since Monica Brooks moved to Cedar Key, she's found a home, a husband, and now a business to love. Taking over her mother's bustling knitting shop is a welcome challenge, but Monica's exciting plans are waylaid by unexpected news. Her husband's ex-wife has been deemed an unfit mother, and custody of their eight-year-old daughter, Clarissa, is to be transferred to Adam.

Going straight from honeymoon to motherhood--especially when she's unsure she wants children--leaves the normally even-keeled Monica doubting herself at every turn. Yet in a place like Cedar Key, nobody goes it alone. With help from friends and relatives, Monica, Clarissa, and Adam begin to forge a close-knit family of their own--one that will need to be strong enough to withstand all the surprises set to unravel. . .

I just loved Terri's first book, Spinning Forward, so I'm eagerly anticipating  this one. Even the cover is wonderful to look at. Such beautiful, vibrant colors!

Review & Giveaway of Home Again by Mariah Stewart

July 27th 2010 by Ballantine Books (first published July 15th 2010)
details
Mass Market Paperback, 320 pages
isbn 0345520351
(isbn13: 9780345520357)

From Goodreads: "Dallas MacGregor is living the Hollywood dream. At thirtysomething, she’s an award-winning actress beloved by the public and bound for even bigger success. But when her soon-to-be-ex-husband, producer Emilio Baird, is caught in a sex scandal, Dallas’s charmed life turns tabloid nightmare. Determined to shield her young son, Cody, from the ugly uproar, Dallas seeks refuge in sleepy St. Dennis, Maryland—the Chesapeake Bay town where her happiest childhood days were spent. Reunited with her boisterous great-aunt, Dallas wants nothing more than to leave her Hollywood days behind. And when she crosses paths with local veterinarian Grant Wyler, her high school summer love, she finds he’s everything she remembers, and more—and that the spark is still there. But Dallas’s promising new life takes a troubling turn when the unimaginable happens and she finds herself living a mother’s worst nightmare—and Emilio storms into St. Dennis to save the day, along with his damaged career. Trapped in the unwanted glare of the limelight once again, Dallas discovers that it’s coolheaded Grant who is willing to risk everything to protect her and her son, and to secure the future they were always meant to share."

My thoughts: Escaping to St. Dennis was a good move for Dallas as she is welcomed back as one of their own. The town's people rally around her to protect her from the unwelcome attentions of the predatory papparazzi. Being in St. Dennis is also a good thing for Dallas's son Cody. Unlike in Hollywood where even the kids are superficial and judgemental, he's made a real friend in town and is being spoiled and much loved by Dallas's great aunt Berry.

Running into her old flame, Grant,  again was another bonus of visiting St. Dennis. The spark was still there alright. Phew! I could feel the heat emanating from the pages and it wasn't just the humidity of the Chesapeake Bay. Maybe now these two will get a chance to rekindle their feelings at a better point in their lives. They were just too young before. Now with some life experience behind them, they have the maturity to know what they want and how to achieve their goals.

Stewart has come up with a very likeable cast of characters, except for Emilio. He was such a dispicable creep, it was almost fun to see him get kicked to the curb! Aunt Berry, Dallas and Grant's sister Steffie are all strong women characters who know what they want and how to achieve their goals. I really liked the dynamic Aunt Berry and kind of wished I had an aunt just like her. What a personality!

I read the first book in the series, Coming Home, and this was like visiting with old friends in a very familiar place. I just love the little town of St. Dennis, that realistic small town atmosphere that Stewart does so well .
Parts of the book were a tad predictable but that never took away from the enjoyment of the story at all. In fact the ending *sniff* had me tearing up. I really enjoyed this one. 4****

Home Again is the 2nd in the Chesapeake diaries series.

From Mariah's website: "Almost Home, the third Chesapeake Diaries book, which will be released on March 22, 2011. This is Steffie Wyler’s book. When her long-time crush, Wade MacGregor, comes back to St. Dennis, the fur is flying."

Ooh, I can't wait to see what else is in going on in St Dennis! If you would like to read excerpts from Mariah's book, please visit her website.
For more stops on the tour:

Monday, August 30th: Heart 2 Heart
Wednesday, September 1st: Reading at the Beach
Tuesday, September 7th: Simply Stacie
Thursday, September 9th: My Two Blessings
Monday, September 13th: Pudgy Penguin Perusals Review & Giveaway
Wednesday, September 15th: A Book Blogger’s Diary
Monday, September 20th: Along the Way
Tuesday, September 21st: I’m Booking It
Wednesday, September 22nd: Lesa’s Book Critiques
Thursday, September 23rd: Joyfully Retired
Monday, September 27th: Mockingbird Hill Cottage
Tuesday, September 28th: Rundpinne
Wednesday, September 29th: Trisha’s Book Blog
Friday, October 1st: Luxury Reading
Monday, October 4th: Thoughts From an Evil Overlord
Tuesday, October 5th: Beth Fish Reads – Pennsylvania Author Guest Post and Giveaway

The publisher is allowing me to host a giveaway for one copy of Home Again. Open to US & Canada. Please include an e mail address in your comment.

Bonus entries available :
+2 for old followers - remind me how you follow and under what name
+3 for new followers thru GFC
+3 for posting about and linking to drawing or tweeting.
Please, please please, DO NOT leave 3 separate comments saying you tweeted or that you are a follower! :)

Deadline is Sept 23rd at 5 PM (est) Good luck!

Disclosure: A review copy of the book was provided by TLC book tours in exchange for my honest opinion.

Quickie giveaway: Saffron Dreams by Shaila Abdullah

In rememberance of  September 11th, I'm offering one copy of my somewhat gently read ARC of Saffron  Dreams and matching book mark by Shaila Abdullah. I just finished it yesterday and it is a very good read.

From the back cover: "From the darkest hour of American history emerges a mesmerizing tale of tender love, a life interrupted, and faith recovered. Arissa Illahi, a Muslim artis and writer, discovers in a single moment no matter how carefully you map your life, it is life itself tht chooses your destiny. After her husband's death in the collapse of the World Trade Center, the discovery of his manuscript marks Arissa's reconnection to life. Her unborn son and the unfinished novel fuse in her mind into one life-defining project that becomes at one the struggle for her emotional survival and the redemption of her race.

Saffron Dreams is a novel about our ever evolving identities and the events and places that shape them. It reminds us that in the midst of tragedy, our dreams can become a lasting legacy."

Open to US only.  Deadline to enter is Sept 14 at 5 PM.

Just leave a comment, including your e mail address, that briefly describes what you were doing when you heard the news about the World Trade Center attack.

Review: The Gendarme by Mark Mustian

Hardcover: 304 pages

Publisher: Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam (September 2, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399156348
ISBN-13: 978-0399156342

Told from Emmet's (Ahmet's) perspective, the story alternates between 1990 in the USA and Turkey during the WWI time frame. Now that 92 year old Emmet Conn, born Ahmet Khan, is old and sick his dreams start to haunt him. Seeming like fleeting memories, wispy and hazy as smoke, hard to grab onto, he is not sure if they are  just dreams or real memories. Sometimes the images are most disturbing. He likens it to a continuing story told in pieces.

"For me the past is so dominant. Memory receding, obscuring-discovering something new is like finding hidden treasure."

He dreams of being a gendarme in the Turkish military responsible for moving groups of Armenian deportees across the desert to Syria. Araxie, a young girl in the group, attracts his attention; she is so arresting with eyes of two different colors. Copying some of the other gendarmes, he takes her from the group one night with the intention of raping her but when she looks at him and simply asks him why, his better instincts take over and he then becomes her protector. She returns the favor one night alerting Ahmet when another jealous gendarme, Mustafa, was set to attack him.

The trek is arduous with many dangers and deaths occurring daily. The deportees are dispirited, starving, dehydrated and sick with dysentery. On the march, Ahmet  thanks Araxie for saving him but she is unresponsive, almost delirious from sickness and just barely managing to put one foot in front of the other.

The author puts the reader right inside Ahmet's head and the exquisite writing makes it plain to see what Ahmet sees and feel what he feels.

"During other periods I question myself, wondering why I am here, why I covet her and not others. She is haggard now, the bones visible in her thin shoulders, her arms rigid and stick-like. she smells like rotten meat. The eyes that had so beguiled me before squint now against glare and sand, her lips swollen, her face burned by the sun. Still, I worry, I plot. I dream. I will not let her die."

In the present day, Emmet, is being treated for a brain tumor and the story tells of how his dreams and memories of the past come back to affect the present. He ruminates about his past life and wonders how things could have been different. When his neighbor visits him in the hospital, she tells him she doesn't know that much about him. Emmet tries to tell her.

" I am from Turkey. I fought in the war. I was injured, then rescued. An immigrant. A father. I cannot tell her, though of before, of what I know now, of what I remember. That I was a gendarme, a . . . . murderer. That this is my shame."

This powerfully written book is so emotionally moving, it embodies the indominability of the human spirit and the power of forgiveness. The Gendarme evoked such vivid images, I felt as if I were watching Emmet's dreams and memories on a movie screen. This is just the briefest of synopses trying not to include any spoilers, but I hope it at least piqued your interest and you will get a chance to read Emmet's narrative yourself. Although some of the incidents in the book are disturbing, I got so caught up in this story, I could not put the book down. 5*****

Disclosure: A review (arc) copy of the book was provided by Putnam/Amy Einhorn Books through SA.

Waiting on Wednesday: Murder at the PTA

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights new releases that we are eagerly anticipating.



This week's WoW is for a debut novel, Murder at the PTA, a cozy mystery by Laura Alden.

Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Signet; Original edition (October 5, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0451231090
ISBN-13: 978-0451231093

From Amazon: "After Tarver Elementary School's unpopular principal is murdered, PTA secretary and mother of two, Beth Kennedy puts aside bake sales and class trip fund-raisers to catch a killer. And when members of the PTA become suspects, she realizes solving this murder will not be as easy as ABC... "
Doesn't this sound like a fun read?

Winners announced!

The contest for War on the Margins is now closed and three winners have been chosen by Random.org and they are :

Karen B

Pamela Keener

Blodeuedd

All winners have been notified. Thanks to all the entrants and followers. The next giveaway will be held on September 13th.

Weekend Cooking; Steak marinade/Le Creuset

Weekend cooking, hosted by Beth Fish Reads,  is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, see the welcome post.

One day we went into Publix supermarket and the demonstrator was cooking NY strip steaks in a Le Creuset grill pan. Since our gas grill died, we've been tossed up what to do but after tasting how delicious, tender and moist the steak was, I immediately used my gift certificate from CSN for a Le Creuset 10" grill pan. I checked all over the internet and the prices were anywhere from $90.00 to $210.00. CSN's price was $64.95! Unbelievable bargain. It was delivered in 3 days and we have now cooked steaks in it several times and they are every bit as delicious as the sample we had at Publix.

The following marinade recipe is from Publix Apron's recipes:

1 1/4 lb. boneless NY strip steaks
1/2 c. Ken's steakhouse sun-dried tomato vinaigrette
1 package brown gravy mix ( about an ounce) I just used the Publix brand.
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
large zip top bag

Preheat grill pan. Place vinaigrette and dry gravy mix in zip-top bag, shake to mix. I just sort of smushed them together. Season steaks and place in bag with marinade. Let stand 10 minutes.

Place steaks on grill (demonstrator used piece of non -stick foil in bottom of pan for a no mess clean up) and tent loosely with foil or if using gas grill, close lid, discarding excess marinade. Grill 4-5 min per side or until 145 degrees F (for medium rare) Yum uh uh uh um!!!

I would never have tried this recipe without sampling it first because I don't particularly like sun-dried tomatos but in a vinagrette as a marinade- it's delicious!

Review: Body Work by Sara Paretsky

When P.I. "Vic" Warshawski went to a local Chicago club to catch a music group, another act certainly got her attention. The "Body Artist", a woman who lets audience members come up and paint on her nude body, is the talk of the town. After a  woman patron paints a flower design on the Body Artist, a vet in the audience goes into an angry tirade. Warshawski later sees the two arguing in an alley and not long after, the young woman is shot and ends up dying in Warshawski's arms. The young vet, Chad, is later arrested for her murder.

Chad's parents hire Warshawski to find the real murderer as they insist that although their son came back from Iraq very  angry and moody, he would never murder anyone. Warshawski comes to the conclusion that Chad was set up as the circumstantial evidence is too pat for her liking. Who could have had it in for the both of them?

Delving into the case is like opening one box only to find another box inside and another box inside that. Every lead Warshawski chases down leads her deeper into another layer. Since the murdered woman's sister had been killed in Iraq and Chad did 4 tours in Iraq, Warshawski is convinced the answers stem from there even though she finds out Chad had no connection with the murdered woman or her sister. To make matters worse, the murdered woman's family will not talk about their daughter who died in Iraq. Somehow Warshawski has to make all the connections fit and this leads her to some very unexpected places.

Although this is the 14th in the Vic Warshawski series, it reads like a stand-alone. I 've read Paretsky before but it's been a while and I don't remember her books being this complex with such a layered plot.  Excellently done with deep characterizations, lots of local color, realistic dialogue and numerous twists makes this one great read not to be missed. Since I had a hard time putting this one down, it gets a 4* rating from me.

Disclosure: A review copy of the book was provided by Putnam through Good Reads.