The Summer of Skinny Dipping
by Amanda Howells
Paperback
List Price: $8.99
Published in 2010
ISBN-10: 1-4022-3862-2

Mia Farrow was looking forward to a fantastic summer at Long Island with her cousin Corinne and Aunt Kathleen, but no matter how good the presentation may be, the problems resurfaced. Mia’s mom cares about her looks, Aunt Kathleen and Corinne have been fighting, and Mia feels out of place with the well bred high class kids. At a party at Wind Song, Mia sits out only to be confronted by Simon. Falling in love with another guy is the last thing on her mind, but everything seems to fall in place with him when everything is falling apart inside Wind Song. If only true love were to last forever.

Reviewed by Chana (Shoshana’s daughter)

Tags: Amanda Howells

Gerald Hansen, author of Embarrassment of Riches will have a new book called Hand In the Till.  I am looking forward to this book because Embarrassment of Riches is an uproariously funny book. Gerald Hansen guest posted here a year ago.  Take a look at it and you’ll see why his book is better than a good read.

One day, I read my copy while my childrens’ having a karate class.  I read about the confession of Siofra. I laughed so hard, I had tears running down my cheeks.  That made all the other mommies in the waiting room want to read my book. Some couldn’t wait and they bought their own copy. Today, I still laugh when I recall scenes from this book. I think this would make into a good comedy movie.

If you missed it, here’s your chance to win a copy. This one will be slightly used because my mother and sister have read it. Actually, it’s my sister’s copy. Since she’s not a book hoarder like I am, I get to give her copy away.

Giveaway (For a used copy of Embarrassment of Riches):

Leave a comment, and fill in this form at the same time. Contest open to US and Canada.
Extra entries: tweet, blog, sidebar link. Please leave the links in the comment form.
Drawing will be 10 days from today, and winner will get their book shipped the day after.

Tags: Gerald Hansen

Between Me and the River
Carrie Host

My Review:
I received this book last Fall, thanks to Lisa Roe of Online Publicist. Thank you, Lisa. I immediately set out to read it. It is a most compelling book about one woman’s journey to one of the worst things anybody can get. In fact, this book is so compelling, I started paying attention to the growing lump inside my C-section incision. I have three lumps growing there just like The Three Little Bears. I did not pay attention to them before, until I started reading Between Me and the River. This book took me on a most emotional and uplifting armchair journey.  It also took me to a mini-panic attack when my doctors can’t figure out what my Three Little Bears (a nickname that one of my kids came up) were.

I usually do not like to read autobiography, but I am very, very glad to have read this one. If you’re like me and a die-hard romantic fiction reader, then you must make an exception for this book. Reading this book will take you to a myriad of emotions, but the bottom line is, you’ll be very glad to have read this one.

About the book:
Carrie Host knows that the diagnosis of a life-threatening illness takes a split second to change your life, as well as the lives of your partner, parents, children and all who love you. Packed with inspiration, advice, comfort and hope, Between Me and the River is Host’s candid and uplifting memoir of how she found the strength and fortitude to triumph over a rare form of cancer, and craft a new and meaningful life.
When told at forty, with her youngest child just ten months old, that she had carcinoid tumor, Host felt as if she’d been hurled into a raging river, stripped of all forms of potential rescue. The voyage of this strong-minded, openhearted woman out of that river and onto safe shores is told with uncompromising honesty and respect for the miracles that medicine and love can work.

While dealing with practical issues such as how to find the best medical team and what to tell the children, Host also recounts the many spiritual and eye-opening lessons that made her journey so bearable: how to see what is available rather than what is absent, how to free up energy to heal by letting go of anger and fear, and how to believe in the future.

Host’s unquenchable sense of humor in the midst of suffering creates poignant moments of laughter through tears. Bracing, lyrical and deeply moving, Between Me and the River is a tribute to one life, and all lives, rerouted by illness. This remarkably honest book provides a deep sense of insight and understanding for survivors, caregivers, family members and friends.

Burn: A Novel
by Linda Howard
Read by Joyce Bean

My Review:
Linda Howard is one of my favorite author. Her Mackenzie series is still one of my favorite books. I still re-read Sarah’s Child, Loving Evangeline, and Duncan’s Bride. I haven’t had a chance to read her latest 4 books. So, when I find this audio book at the library, I did my happy dance. It’s 11 disc long, and I had it in my iPod in no time.

Unfortunately for me, I had to restart that prologue and chapter 1 twice. I thought there might have been some mistake. The story wasn’t grabbing me the way that I expect a Linda Howard book would do. The prologue happens on a ship. Then it went back to 7 months ago when Jenner Redwine won a lottery jackpot.

I am always seduced my Linda Howard’s book that by the time the hero and heroine get it on, I am so happy for them…but Jenner and Caile (sp?) does not have any chemistry. (at least, when I was listening to the story, there wasn’t any). By the time I got towards the end, I just wanted the story to end so I can go on to the next book.

Would I recommend this book? Not on a first try, absolutely not. Go with her backlist because they’re awesome books. They have punch. They have chemistry by the gallons that would just pull you in and never let you up until the book ends. And in the end, you’ll sigh wanting more of the story.

So, I won’t be giving away a copy of this book. I will give away one of my other favorite Linda Howard title. Open worldwide, drawing on February 26.
Three different winners. Make sure to let me know which particular book you’d like to get in your comment.
Shades of Twilight
After the Night
Almost Forever

Product Description

It’s true what they say: Money changes everything. And in Linda Howard’s red-hot novel Burn, the changes come fast, furious, and filled with the kind of sexy suspense, heart-stopping romance, beautiful people, and risky business guaranteed to give you the most bang for your buck.

Money certainly changes Jenner Redwine’s life when she wins a lottery jackpot. But it also costs her plenty: Her father rips her off and disappears, her fortune-hunting boyfriend soon becomes her ex, and friends-turned-freeloaders give her the cold shoulder when she stops paying for everything.

Flush with new money, Jenner can’t imagine ever finding a place in the world of the wealthy. Seven years later, though, she’s rubbing elbows with the rich, despite the fact she still feels like a party crasher. Luckily she finds an ally–and a guide to the rarefied realm of privilege–in shy, kind-hearted heiress Sydney Hazlett, who quickly becomes Jenner’s confidante and surrogate sister.

When Sydney invites Jenner on a charity cruise aboard a luxury liner, Jenner reluctantly agrees. But while she’s expecting–and dreading–two weeks of masquerade balls, art auctions, and preening glitterati, what she gets is more like a Hitchcock movie than a Love Boat episode. Taken hostage by a menacing stranger, Jenner must cooperate in a mysterious cloak-and-dagger scheme–or else. With nowhere to run, and with Sydney’s life as well as her own at risk, Jenner is drawn into a game of dizzying intrigue and harrowing danger. But as her panic gives way to exhilaration, and fear of her captor turns to fascination, Jenner rediscovers feelings she hasn’t had in years–and realizes she’s found a life worth living. If she survives.

HER BOOKS: as listed by Fantastic Fiction

Series
Sarah
1. Sarah’s Child (1985)
2. Almost Forever (1986)
3. Bluebird Winter (1987)
Sarah’s ChildAlmost ForeverBluebird Winter

Kell Sabin
1. Midnight Rainbow (1986)
2. Diamond Bay (1987)
3. Heartbreaker (1987)
4. White Lies (1988)
Midnight RainbowDiamond BayHeartbreakerWhite Lies

Mackenzie
1. Mackenzie’s Mountain (1989)
2. Mackenzie’s Mission (1992)
3. Mackenzie’s Pleasure (1996)
4. Mackenzie’s Magic (1996)
5. A Game of Chance (2000)

Duncan and Evangeline
1. Duncan’s Bride (1990)
2. Loving Evangeline (1994)

Western
1. A Lady of the West (1990)
2. Angel Creek (1991)
3. The Touch of Fire (1992)
A Lady of the WestAngel CreekThe Touch of Fire

John Medina
1. Kill and Tell (1998)
2. All the Queen’s Men (1999)
3. Kiss Me While I Sleep (2004)

Blair Mallory
1. To Die for (2004)
2. Drop Dead Gorgeous (2006)

Novels
An Independent Wife (1982)
All That Glitters (1982)
Against the Rules (1983)
Come Lie with Me (1984)
Tears of the Renegade (1985)
The Cutting Edge (1985)
The Way Home (1991)
Overload (1993)
Heart of Fire (1993)
After the Night (1995)
Dream Man (1995)
Shades of Twilight (1996)
Son of the Morning (1997)
Now You See Her (1998)
Mr Perfect (2000)
Open Season (2001)
Dying to Please (2002)
Cry No More (2003)
Killing Time (2005)
Cover of Night (2006)
Up Close and Dangerous (2007)
Death Angel (2008)
Burn (2009)
Ice (2009)
Blood Born (2010) (with Linda Jones)
Veil of Night (2010)

Tags: Joyce Bean, Linda Howard

Mermaid’s Kiss
Book I of the Daughters of Arianne series
Joey W. Hill
Sensual Paranormal Romance
Berkley Sensation
November 2008

My friend, Che (The Book Bitches), told me about this book. Now, when Che likes a books, there’s a 99% chance that I’d enjoy it too. She’s the one who steer me towards The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons, and The Tea Rose, The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly. I think that if you read books, then these are three stories that you mustn’t miss in this lifetime. Thank you  for the head’s up, Che!  I only say 99% because for some reason, Che does not like Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. Now, I think this book is awesome! But she doesn’t think so.

Okay, back to Mermaid’s Kiss. I bought an ebook version in kindle. I love mermaid stories, along with angels, and dragons and fairies, too. When all of these elements are in one book, how could I not read it? Jonah is an angel who fights the Dark Ones for a long, long time. He’s starting to feel like he’s one of them. In one of these battles, he lost his wing and fell, right into Anna’s arms. Well, not really, but close. Anna is a Daughter of Arriane. She’s isolated from her fellow mer creatures because of this stigma attached to her.

Jonah is depressed and fast losing hope. Anna makes it her mission to bring this angel back to light, but first, she’ll have to figure out how to get him away from the Dark Ones, attached his wing, and heal his spirit. I love the battle scenes. As a recent sci-fi fan of movies like Star Trek, I enjoy the battle scenes in this book. I get so engrossed with the story, I sometimes forget it’s fiction. This is also a very erotic book, but it’s not erotica. Just erotic. Overall, a fun and entertaining read. I love, love, love it. And since I love this one book, I’ll have to go and get all of this author’s other books. I don’t want to miss a thing.

Tags: Joey W. Hill