Kristin Elizabeth Marshall, a graduate of Boston University with a degree in Psychology, has burst into the literary world with her first book.

From the back of the book:

Set in the historic and familiar context of what is arguably the most iconic American Family, The Eternal Waltz of Jacqueline Kennedy portrays through elegant, lyrical prose a single ethereal day spent in eternity.  Jackie Kennedy, together with her husband and children for one final treasured day, takes us on a literary tour-de-force, a spiritual journey that unfolds as she reflects on her life.  She examines both her immeasureable joys and her personal tragedies, not only the loves and the losses that spring from the timeless universality of family, but those that arose from that turbulent, triumphant, and uniquely American era surrounding John F. Kennedy’s brief presidency.

I will admit that when I first started reading this book I wasn’t sure what to think or if I would even like it, but as I continued on through the author’s vivid imagery of the day, I was drawn into the story and almost felt like I was right there next to them as they played in the garden or sailed on the boat or ran through a rainstorm to seek shelter.  This book also provokes the reader to ponder things such as sand and how Jackie explains to Caroline that we are all crushers of rock and coral and we all create sand. 

We all know that if you read to children that it will encourage them to enjoy the written word from a young age.  As the author states in one chapter:  The children devour the words like edible sweets.  The books, nourishing food for their hungry young souls.  That is what books should be, food for their souls!

There is a chapter called The Famine and the Feast which relates a story of Caroline having a tea party with her dolls from various countries.  Although the dolls do not have names, they sit next to each other and do not complain about who they are sitting next to or that they are all fed from the same cup and spoon.

Take a break from reality and pick up this book and get swept away in a day with the Kennedys.  You will be glad that you did!

So now for the fun stuff – I am giving away the copy of this book that the author sent me to a lucky winner.  This contest is open to residents of the US and Canada.  Just leave a comment here on my blog and why you might like to read this book and on Friday, July 29th I will choose a lucky winner to experience the day caught on paper.

Congratulations to Brenda who was chosen via random.org

If I don’t hear from her within 3 days I will chose another winner.

Yes, it has been over 6 months since I wrote a review but life sometimes gets in the way.  That said, I have quite a few books and giveaways over the next month!

The first is The Tapestry of Love by Rosy Thornton.  Rosy was kind enough to send me a book last fall that I read but was not able to post my review until now.  My apologies Rosy!

I think many will be able to relate to this storyline.  Catherine divorces her husband and needs a change of pace and decides to do it in a small town in the Cévennes mountains.  She is a talented seamstress and decides to offer custom items such as draperies and needlework but doesn’t realize the hoops she must jump through courtesy of the French government.  However, in her quest for her independence she befriends the townspeople especially her closest neighbors.  They become her surrogate family and watch out for each other and help each other in times of need, sorrow and happiness.  Much like you would come to expect from a small town where everyone knows each other and their business!  Catherine experiences joy, sadness, anger and even love throughout the book in the various situations, nothing different than what you or I might experience in our normal lives.

I enjoyed the book and would give it 4 stars.  I felt the main character in the book overcame many obstacles in her quest for independence but also broadened her views on life and love.  She did have to dealwith some obstacles in her path in this quest for a better life, but these challenges only helped her become a better person.  I felt like the character continued to grow throughout the novel and encouraged me to think about my own life and would I make some of the same choices that Catherine made or would I have chosen a different path.

Now for the fun part – the giveaway!  Rosy kindly provided a copy of her book to me and I would like to share this with one of my lucky readers.  Since it is a thicker book, I do need to limit it to US residents only.  Leave a comment with your email address and why you would like to read this book.  If you post the giveaway on your blog, leave a second comment for another chance to win.

Contest will close on Sunday June 26th around 5pm CT, so get your entries in now!

My friends over at The Book Report Network are having a contest for book clubs to win a book that are recently published or will be released in 2011 for all of your members (well up to 12).

To gauge the year’s most popular book club picks, Reading Group Guides is asking book club members to share the books that their groups read each month in 2010. Groups who submit their lists are automatically entered in a contest to win 12 copies of one of the 33 featured titles we are giving away, which include both recently published titles and upcoming 2011 books. You can see the list of prize titles here. The 2010 Most Discussed Books of the Year feature and contest will be open through January 31, 2011.

If you are in a book club, they’d love to get your feedback with your 2010 picks. You can enter them here

Author Mary Jane Clark is probably best known for her suspense series featuring Eliza Blake, co-anchor for KEY news.  She has branched out and created a pseudo cozy series called the Wedding Cake Mysteries.  It might be more of a cozy than I think, but compared to others it didn’t see as “light” as other cozy series…doesn’t mean it is a bad book, just on a different level which is to be expected based on the other series that MJC writes.

Synopsis:

To Have and To Kill features Piper Donovan, a struggling actress with no immediate prospects and a recently broken engagement. Reluctantly, she moves back in with her parents to take stock of her life. Piper steps tentatively into the family bakery business, and finds herself agreeing to create the wedding cake for the acclaimed star of a daytime television drama. But soon deadly things start happening around the bride-to-be and it seems that somebody is ruthlessly determined to stop the wedding.

With the help of her former neighbor, Jack, a handsome FBI agent with a soft spot for the gorgeous cake-maker, Piper moves closer to the truth. As she narrows in on a suspect, Piper realizes that it’s hotter in the kitchen than she may be able to handle…

Review:

I have read most of MJC’s other books in the Key Series and have really enjoyed the books so I was interested to see what her foray into the cozy realm would produce.  While I mentioned a few minor things before, I thought this book was a great start.  The characters were real and dealt with many life issues (money, love, desperation, etc).  The story line was intriguing and truly kept me guessing as to who the killer was in the book.  I kept going back and forth between a few characters only to be proven wrong in the end.  That is the sign of a good book when I can’t figure out whodoneit!  I’ll also be curious to see what path Piper chooses in her life…if she continues acting (or at least auditioning) or focuses a little more on her mom’s bakery.

This is definitely a series to watch, I think it could rival some of the other cozy series in the market.

A few months ago I reviewed the first book in the Sherri Travis series called Margarita Nights by author Phyllis Smallman.  The book showed promise for a new series set in Florida so I decided to check out the next two books in the series, Sex in a Sidecar and A Brewski for the Old Man.  The following synopsis are from the author’s website.

Sex in a Sidecar

Florida has two seasons. The rainy season brings hurricanes, the dry season delivers tourists – both can be nasty.

Sherri Travis is tending bar at the Bath and Tennis Club where two women have been murdered. A rich socialite, who comes in daily for her quota of side-cars, decides to commit suicide by being the next victim,but first she has to decide who the murderer is.

Sherri pours the drinks and listens to the stories, trying to make sense of it all.

A Brewski for the Old Man

The story of the return to Jacaranda of Ray John Leenders, the man who abused Sherri when she was a child. Back in town he’s living with a woman who has a young daughter. Sherri doesn’t want to get involved; it’s none of her business – except, except – she knows the woman and her daughter and it’s impossible to stay uninvolved.

Review:

These two books were a fairly quick and easy read.  It continues the life of Sherri but since she received an insurance settlement from the death of her husband in the first book, she is able to purchase the bar she worked at, Sunset, with another investor, Clay who also happens to be her love interest. 

I know that these are a cozy mysteries but sometimes I wonder how these characters get themselves into so much trouble!  Granted most of the time she isn’t looking for that trouble but manages to find her anyway.

I was surprised that despite everything that has happened in the first two books and how Sherri has managed to solve or help solve these crimes that Detective Styles always seems to think she is involved more than she really is and automatically thinks she had something to do with the death  of John Ray in the third book.  Hasn’t he learned anything yet?  Or is he just looking for an excuse to get close to Sherri?  Granted there is a lot of circumstantial evidence but we all know you can’t make assumptions.

If you enjoyed Margarita Nights you will enjoy these next two installments.  The pace is quick and the cast of characters which follows each book will keep you hopping trying to decide who can or cannot be trusted.

NANCY G. BRINKER is the founder and CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. She has served as Ambassador to Hungary and White House Chief of Protocol and as Global Ambassador for Cancer Control for the World Health Organization. She has received the prestigious Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service, the Trumpet Foundation’s President’s Award, the Independent Women’s Forum Barbara K. Olson Woman of Valor Award, the Forbes Trailblazer Award, the Ladies’ Home Journal 100 Most Important Women of the 20th Century, and the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Synopsis:

Growing up in postwar Peoria, Illinois, Suzy and Nancy Goodman were inseparable, with the elegantly poised Suzy serving as younger sister Nancy’s best friend and role model in the grand adventure of life. The Goodman sisters learned at an early age the importance of helping those in need. Charity became a common theme in their lives but so did breast cancer. In 1977, at the age of thirty-four, Suzy was diagnosed with the disease.  Three years later, having endured well-meaning but misinformed doctors, multiple surgeries, and several grueling courses of chemotherapy and radiation, she died.  In one of the sisters’ last conversations, Suzy begged Nancy to do something to stop the suffering:

“Promise me, Nanny,” she said. “Promise me you won’t let it go on like this.”

Review:

As a breast cancer survivor, I wanted to know more about how the Susan G Komen Foundation (SGK) came about and how it became so influential.  I don’t remember when I began hearing about the organization or really took notice but it was many years after the formation.

This book includes a time line of the history of breast cancer along with the story of Susan and Nancy’s lives including childhood, marriage, divorce, kids and cancer.  The various time lines were neatly interwoven within each other to give you a historical perspective.  I will say that when I got to the chapters about a trip that they took to Europe after high school almost stopped me from finishing the book.  I felt like it went on too long.  But I am very glad that I kept reading because after that the book was exactly what I was expecting, how SGK came about and the struggles that they went through to form the foundation.  And I was quite surprised when I read who was the Oncologist for Susan and Nancy, my own Oncologist Dr. George Blumenschein!  I knew I had to have been in good hands 6 years ago when I chose him to help me fight my own battle with breast cancer.

All in all I would give this book 3 1/2 stars.  There is a great resource section at the back of the book and I found many resources that I hadn’t known about at that time and can share with others diagnosed with this disease.

Congratulations to these winners:

Here are your random numbers:

3 - Patty
12 - Tonya

Timestamp: 2010-10-09 17:09:14 UTC

Susan Bulkeley Butler is an accomplished business woman who shaped her own future at a time when women were not taken seriously as business profesionals.  She joined Arthur Andersen & Co. as its first professional female employee in 1965, and 14 years later, was named the first female partner of its consulting organization, Andersen Consulting, now known as Accenture.  In 2001, Upside magazine named her to its list of “The 50 Most Remarkable Women in Technology” who have moved the industry “beyond the glass-ceiling cliché.”

Synopsis (taken from SBBinstitute.org)

As the 100-year anniversary of women winning the right to vote approaches on August 26, 2020, the “Decade for Women” ahead will re-assess how far we’ve come—and how far we still have to go.

To become “women who count,” women must think of themselves, think of others, and think big, contends author Susan Bulkeley Butler. Before and since breaking barriers to become the first woman partner at Accenture, Butler has passionately championed the cause of equality for women in education, in the workforce and in society.

In Women Count: A Guide to Changing the World, she shows how the world can become a better place in myriad ways with more involvement from women. Today’s world—with its wars, corporate ethics violations, economic meltdowns and societal strife—needs the unique strengths and attributes of women more than ever, Butler contends.

Women make up about half of the country’s population and half its work-force, yet account for only a small percentage of the leadership roles in government, business and beyond. Butler brings her experiences and insights directly to readers by showing how they can collectively use their strengths to improve the world.

Together, women must envision equality, build teams, take action, and help one another through mentoring, philanthropy, education and public service, according to Butler.

Then, and only then, she asserts, can women truly change the world and become “women who count.”

My Review:

As a sidenote, this is a very short book, about 130 pages.

I have to say that I loved this book!  While a compact book, there is so much information contained in these pages that made me realize how fortunate I am for women in history that have shaped the world as I know it today.  This book also made me take a look at my own life and wondering how I am contributing to the world for future generations.  What could I do in my life that might make a change that in 20+ years will be noted by others?

I enjoyed reading little bits about various historical women that paved the way for me and more than just those in the Women’s Suffrage movement.  Did you know the cotton gin idea was created by a woman, Catherine Littlefield Greene?  Knowing that she would never receive a patent for it that she shared that information with Eli Whitney who did patent the machine.  This is just one example that Susan notes in her book.

I’d say that this book could be read by anyone of any age.  There are some parts that might impact a woman that is older (18+) but there are many parts that younger women could take and work into their lives.

The Giveaway:

Leave a comment on my blog for a chance to win 1 of 2 copies of this book.  The contest is open until Friday October 8th and is open to all US and Canadian residents.

Phyllis Smallman is the first receipient of the Arthur Ellis Award for Unhanged Arthur from Crime Writers of Canada in June 2007. She was short listed for the Debut Dagger by the Crime Writers of the UK, and nominated for the Malice Domestic Award in the U.S.  Margarita Nights was published in 2008 by McArthur and Co Publishers. It has just been short listed for the Best first Novel of 2008 by the Crime Writers of Canada. 

 The sequels in the Sherri Travis series, Sex in a Sidecar andA Brewski for the Old Man, were published in 2009 and 2010 respectively.Champagne for Buzzards will be published in the spring of 2011.  There are two other books that will follow: Highball Exit and Last Call.

Synopsis:

In a small Florida beach town, Sherri Travis is a bartender with attitude and a woman with an inconveniently murdered husband who turns out to be as much trouble to her dead as he was alive.

Sifting through the debris of Jimmy’s life, Sherri finds more than a few people who wanted her lying, scheming, scam artist husband gone — but which one actually did the deed?

My Review:

This is the first book that I have read by Phyllis Smallman.  I do love a good cozy and this one did not disappoint.  While Sherri did a few things that I wouldn’t have done (like left a video tape with evidence in her VCR), if she hadn’t it wouldn’t have been a cozy!  You expect those sort of things from someone investigating a crime without the proper training or experience.  Sherri also has an interesting relationship with her mother, but then who doesn’t?

I also liked how it was set in Florida and the descriptive text used throughout the book.  I was able to picture the scenery in my mind and the various locales depicted within the novel.

Overall I give the book 4 stars and can’t wait to read the next two in the series.  So be sure and check back for those reviews!