On My Wishlist #8

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where you can list all the books that you desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming.

Walking Through Shadows by Bev Marshall:

When the body of seventeen-year-old Sheila Barnes is found on Lloyd Cotton's dairy farm in 1941, nearly all the citizens of the quiet town of Zebulon, Mississippi, feel the effects of her murder. But those most deeply affected by the tragedy include her young husband, Stoney, and the Cotton family, who took Sheila in and grew to love and respect her.

Though badly abused by her father, labeled “slow-witted,” and burdened with a physical deformity, Sheila approaches life with a natural, cheerful optimism and an unwavering belief in the healing powers of magic. She quickly becomes the Best Friend of eleven–year–old Annette Cotton, and subtly charms and changes those around her, proving to many that true wisdom often comes from unlikely places.

Marshall has created a page–turner of stunning lyrical beauty that is impossible to forget. At the heart of this literary murder mystery is the powerful truth that love conquers all—even death.

Huck by Janet Elder:

In the tradition of Dewey, A Lion Called Christian, and Homer’s Odyssey, HUCK is an unforgettable true story of a lost puppy and a family who learned a valuable lesson about tenacity, faith, and the generosity of strangers.

This story begins with a little boy’s dream. Janet Elder’s son Michael was about four when he began begging for a dog. His relentless campaign went on for years. At one point, when Michael was about seven years old, there was even a PowerPoint presentation entitled, “My Dog,” with headings like “A Childhood Without a Dog is a Sad Thing.” Janet almost caved, but then thought about the impracticalities and the logistics--their city apartment, her and her husband Rich’s demanding jobs, their need to get away. So as much as she hated having a heartbroken boy on her hands, she remained steadfast: no dog. What makes her reconsider her long-standing position on a family dog is a breast cancer diagnosis.

Worried about the toll the illness would take on eleven-year-old Michael and Rich, Janet decides the anticipation and excitement over the arrival of a new puppy would be the perfect antidote to the strain on the family of months of treatments for her illness. The prospect of a new puppy would be an affirmation of life, a powerful talisman for them all.

On Thanksgiving weekend, shortly after the treatments were completed, they bring home a sweet, mischievous, red-haired, toy poodle, they name Huck, who quickly and conclusively wins everyone’s heart.

A few months later, the family ventures south to attend the Yankees’ spring training and enjoy a much-needed vacation, leaving Huck for the first time with Janet’s sister in Ramsey, New Jersey. Barely twenty-four hours into their trip, Janet gets a dreaded phone call. Huck has slipped through the backyard fence and run away. Broken hearted and frantic, the family races home to begin a search for little Huck. It’s a race against time, for Huck, lost in an area he is entirely unfamiliar with, faces the threat of bears, coyotes, raccoons, swamps, freezing temperatures, rain, and fast cars on curvy roads. Moved by the family’s plight, strangers – from school children to the police lieutenant -- join the search.

As the days pass, finding a small puppy in a densely wooded area in freezing and rainy weather proves to be an incredible test. Buoyed by grit, the open arms of strangers, and faith, the family soldiers on. Touching and warm-hearted, HUCK is a page-turning, heart-stopping story about resilience, the kindness of strangers, and determination. It is a story about hope, a story the reader will neither put down nor forget.


The Last Talk with Lola Faye by Thomas H. Cook:

Middling historian Lucas Page visits St. Louis to give a sparsely attended reading—nothing out of the ordinary. Except among the yawning attendees is someone he did not expect: Lola Faye Gilroy, the “other woman” he has long blamed for his father’s murder decades earlier.

Reluctantly, Luke joins Lola Faye for a drink. As one drink turns into several, these two battered souls relive, from their different perspectives, the most searing experience of their lives. Slowly but surely, the hotel bar dissolves around them and they are transported back to the tiny southern town where this defining moment—a violent crime of passion—is turned in the light once more to reveal flaws in the old answers. As it turns out, there is much Luke doesn’t know. And what he doesn’t know can hurt him. Trapped in an increasingly intense emotional exchange, and with no place to go save back into his own dark past, Luke struggles to gain control of an ever more threatening conversation, to discover why Lola Faye has come and what she is after—before it is too late.

What's on YOUR wishlist this week?

Book Review - The Butterfly Garden by Chip St. Clair

One of America's Most Fascinating True Crime Cases

Fear rocked Chip St. Clair's world. As a boy, he never knew what would set his father off--maybe the ice cubes had melted in his glass of Tab, maybe dinner was overcooked or undercooked or the gravy was too runny. Regardless, the beatings always came. As did the twisted games of cat and mouse--being thrown from a rowboat into frigid Lake Michigan, the middle-of-the-night moves to different states, or being left to dangle over a ten-story balcony while his father watched from inside. But one fateful night when the police answered the call, the truth came to light from the shadows, sparking national headlines: Chip St. Clair's entire life--his name, even his date of birth--had been a lie, and the man he called 'Dad' was an impostor, an escaped child killer who had been on the run for over two decades. The stunning revelation would send one of America's Most Wanted to justice and another on a quest for his true identity.

With chilling detail and a riveting, lyrical narrative, The Butterfly Garden reveals St. Clair's struggle to piece together his haunted past before it consumes him and shares his inspiring metamorphosis from victim to victim's advocate. The Butterfly Garden is a timeless triumph, a reminder that hope can be the most powerful of all emotions, freeing us to soar despite the past and the odds against us.

My Thoughts: It is unfathomable the hell that Chip St. Clair went through growing up. With each passing chapter I was more horrified. The only good to come of this was that Michael Grant was put back behind bars where he belonged. Chip's entire childhood was a farce. He and his parents moved around a lot, sometimes leaving places in the middle of the night. Chip was punished for the littlest things.....a throw pillow out of place, a dirty sock left on the floor. He endured his abuse up until his teenage years. At that point, he knew that he had to get away and somehow find out about his past. He meets his soul mate, Lisa, and the two of them begin uncovering secrets that would shock not only themselves, but local law enforcement and eventually the nation.

Chip tells his story with honesty and emotion. He finally becomes the person that he has always wanted to be. Like a butterfly that has been in a cocoon, he emerges strong and free with his loving wife beside him, ready to share his story with everyone, hoping to keep children everywhere safe from abuse.

Good

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: HCI (January 18, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0757306950
• ISBN-13: 978-0757306952

About the Author

Chip St. Clair is a recipient of a U.S. Congressional Record for his work helping to keep abused children safe and to keep predators behind bars. He began sharing his story nationally in 2002, having been featured on major television programs such as Dateline, Good Morning America, and the John Walsh Show. Most recently, St. Clair helped to pass Michigan's, Montana's, and Maryland's versions of Jessica's Law.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read* * Open to a random page* *Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page *

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! ;)

My teaser today comes from The House on Tradd Street by Karen White:

~Sun glinted off the Tiffany rose window on the front door as I fished the key out of my pocket with trembling fingers. In my long experience with these things, I knew I had two choices: I could ignore it in the hopes it would go away, or I could confront whatever it was to make them go away faster.~pg 51

Whats YOUR teaser today???

A Day Late - Saturday Spotlight - Favorite Male Mystery Author

This week's spotlight is shining on :

FAVORITE MALE MYSTERY AUTHOR

THOMAS H. COOK

I normally do not read murder mysteries. There is no particular reason for this, I can only say that mysteries are not included in my favorite genres....with one exception. I discovered Thomas H. Cook about 15 years ago, purely by accident. I was browsing the shelves of my library, just picking out books at random. I like to to that sometimes. I have found some really good reads by closing my eyes, and grabbing a random book off of a shelf. That is how I found Breakheart Hill by Thomas Cook.

MORE ABOUT THOMAS

Thomas H. Cook was born in Ft. Payne, Alabama in 1947. He received a Bachelor of Arts in English and philosophy from Georgia State College in 1969, and advanced degrees in American history from Hunter College (1972) and Columbia University of New York (1976). He has had several careers including that of an advertising executive for U. S.Industrial Chemicals, a clerk/typist for the Association for Help of Retarded Adults, an English and history teacher at Dekalb Community College, Clarkston, Georgia, and a book review editor for The Atlantic Monthly. Since 1981, he has devoted himself to a full time writing career.

Cook's crime thrillers are compelling tales written with great lyrical beauty. He views his crime novels as a means of financing his literary works. In 1996, he won the Edgar Allan Poe award for The Chatham School Affair.

He makes his home with his wife Susan Terner (a radio writer) and their daughter Justine in New York and Cape Cod.

“I write a combination mystery-mainstream novel, and that is a big problem, I think, in that mainstream readers very often never give mysteries a chance. I fall through a lot of cracks, and so far, despite wonderful reviews over a period of 20 years, I am still one of the best-known unknown writers out there.” From an interview with January Magazine, September 2009


Visit Thomas on his Facebook page.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Blood Innocents (Playboy, 1980)
• The Orchids (Houghton Mifflin, 1982)
• Tabernacle (Houghton Mifflin, 1983)
• Elena (Houghton Mifflin, 1986)
• Sacrificial Ground (Putnam, 1988)
• Flesh and Blood (Putnam, 1989)
• Streets of Fire (Putnam, 1989)
• Night Secrets (Putnam, 1990)
• The City When It Rains (Putnam, 1991)
• Evidence of Blood (Putnam, 1991)
• Mortal Memory (Putnam, 1993)
• Blood Echoes (Onyx, 1993)
  
• Breakheart Hill (Bantam, 1995)
• The Chatham School Affair (Bantam, 1996)
• Instruments of Night (Bantam, 1998)
• Places in the Dark (Bantam, 2000)
• Interrogation (Bantam, 2002)
• Taken (Dell, 2002) (Novelization)
• Moon Over Manhattan (New Millennium Press, 2002), with Larry King
• Peril (Bantam, 2004)
• Into the Web (Bantam, 2004)
• Red Leaves (Otto Penzler Book, 2006)
  
• The Murmur of Stones (Quercus, 2006) (published in the US as The Cloud of Unknowing)
• Master of the Delta (Harcourt, 2008)
• The Fate of Katherine Carr (2009)

• The Last Talk with Lola Faye (2010)
  

Happy Mothers Day - "We Used to Laugh..."

(August 1994)

* This is a post from another blog that I have. I wanted to copy & post it here in honor of Mothers Day*

We used to laugh, my Mom and I. We shared the same sense of humor, and found silliness in the simplest things.

I used to laugh at her for cleaning the bathroom "when the mood struck her."...not meaning our bathroom was dirty until she felt like cleaning it, but sometimes when she would be getting out of the bathtub in the evenings, after scrubbing the tub, she would continue to clean the sink, toilet and floor with just a towel wrapped around her. I would knock and enter the bathroom to find her cleaning the mirror with a paper towel, and a her foot on a rag, wiping the floor at the same time. We would crack up, and she would say "I might as well, while I'm in here."

Once, she and I became obsessed with doing cross stitch. I had bronchitis, and missed a week of work. She and I went to a crafts store and bought tons of cross stitch kits and thread. We finished a few things, then put it away. Years later, when we were cleaning out a closet, we found those things.....and laughed until we cried. Oh yes, we were so dedicated in continuing our cross stitch projects....every time we came across another unopened kit, we would laugh harder.

Then, there was the blue shirt. I bought a soft, well-worn used blue Woolrich shirt at a garage sale. It was a mens shirt, so it was big. A soft button-down I would wear around the house on weekends. My mother fell in love with the shirt, so I gave it to her when I moved away. The following Christmas, when she sent my gifts to Florida, in one of the boxes was the blue shirt. There was no note with it.....I laughed until I cried. The next Mother's Day, I sent the shirt back to her. This went on for years, until one of us lost track of the shirt. I can't even tell you where it is to this day. But for a lot of years, it brought us bouts of tear-filled laughter....each one of us thinking about the other.

My father, bless his heart, was a topic of a lot of our shared laughter. Not in a mean way, but some of the things that he said, or the way that he acted was hilarious to me and my Mom. When my brother and I were still young, my Mom would pick us up from school. If it was late in the afternoon, my Dad would be getting ready to drive home at the same time (he was a teacher at our school). My brother would get in my Dad's car with him, I would be in my Mom's car with her. We would be sitting at a stoplight, both cars side by side, and my Mom would look over at my Dad and give him the finger just as the light would be turning green. We would bust out laughing, then she would take off. She always beat my Dad home. My brother would be mad because Dad drove so slow. Another joke we had regarding Dad, was he would never pass up anything FREE. We were all staying in a hotel one time, and Mom and I got up early, and were tiptoeing out of the room to go downstairs for coffee, when my Dad, still mostly asleep, saw us. He started fumbling around on the beside table for the Free Continental Breakfast coupon he had, croaking in his still-sleepy voice "FREE....take these Free.......". Another time, she and my Dad had come down to visit me in Florida. We had gone out for dinner, and I was driving them back to their hotel. My Dad fell asleep in the back seat, and Mom and I were quietly talking in the front. A thunderstorm had just finished, as we passed a field full of cows. "I wonder if cows can be struck by lightening?" I asked my mom, quietly. "OF COURSE THEY CAN!" this voice boomed from the backseat. My sleeping father suddenly awoke, to answer my question. We laughed until I thought we would pass out.

I can't remember the last time that I laughed with my Mom. It has been a very long time. I'm glad that I have the memories. I ache because there will not be any more.

I miss you, Mom, even though you're still here

I can't reach you anymore

Your eyes are open, your heart beats

yet you can't hear my words

When you look at me, your eyes are scared

I hope that you know

how much I love you and

would never hurt you

I wish that you would come back

I miss you and love you

I just hope that you know that

(November 2009)

On My Wishlist #7

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where you can list all the books that you desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming.

Boom Town Boy: Coming-of-Age on America's Lost Frontier by Jack de Yonge

This is the witty, ironic, and deliciously outspoken coming-of-age memoir of Jack de Yonge set in Fairbanks, Alaska -- a once thriving little mining town slowly dying in the remote center of the vast territory in 1934. As Jack's dad liked say, no matter what direction you went out of town, you soon arrived in Nowhere. Then, World War II breaks out, and the Japanese attack Alaska. The sleepy little river town springs back to life with the arrival of thousands of U.S. soldiers, Russian lend-lease pilots, and construction workers who keep the red-light district busy and the bars rocking around the clock. The son of a hardwareman at the N.C. Company and a black Irish daughter of the gold rush, de Yonge is a fist-fighting, music-loving altar boy who discovers his own truths about sex, religion, racism, and how the world works. His earthy story describes how war arrives in a small Alaska town next to Nowhere and nothing is ever the same again.

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Epicenter Press; 1st edition (June 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1935347063
• ISBN-13: 978-1935347064

Someone Will Be with You Shortly by Lisa Kogan

Lisa Kogan is a forty-nine-year-old single woman who maintains that every human being deserves a great mattress, a comfortable pair of shoes, and a very smart shrink, and that no one has grown a decent tomato since 1963. She used to think the world wasn't all that complicated, but along came AIDS and crack and Rush Limbaugh, and she had to think again. Still, she's nostalgic for that time when you had to walk all the way across the room to change channels and there was no such thing as a spy satellite capable of spotting a precancerous mole on her left thigh.

In Someone Will Be with You Shortly, Kogan grapples with issues big (her six-year-old daughter, Julia, and the 8,000 miles that separate them from Julia's father) and small (her recent apartment renovation, which consisted of turning over the sofa cushions and then realizing that they looked better the other way) with the self-deprecating humor and deep appreciation for what really matters that have made her column in O, The Oprah Magazine so beloved. Here is a book for anyone who has ever been unnerved by pleather pants, lunch meat, or ambivalent men (not necessarily in that order), but believes that life is a fragile bit of luck well worth living.

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: HarperStudio; 1 edition (March 2, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061735027
• ISBN-13: 978-0061735028

What's on YOUR wishlist?

Book Review - Still Alice by Lisa Genova

From Goodreads:


She didn't want to become someone people avoided and feared. She wanted to live to hold Anna's baby and know it was her grandchild. She wanted to see Lydia act in something she was proud of. She wanted to see Tom fall in love. She wanted to read every book she could before she could no longer read.

Alice Howland is proud of the life she has worked so hard to build. A Harvard professor, she has a successful husband and three grown children. When Alice begins to grow forgetful at first she just dismisses it, but when she gets lost in her own neighborhood she realizes that something is terribly wrong. Alice finds herself in the rapid downward spiral of Alzheimer's disease. She is only 50 years old.

While Alice once placed her worth and identity in her celebrated and respected academic life, now she must re-evaluate her relationship with her husband, her expectations of her children and her ideas about herself and her place in the world.

Losing her yesterdays, her short-term memory hanging on by a couple of frayed threads, she is living in the moment, living for each day. But she is still Alice.

My Thoughts:

This book literally brought me to tears. Lisa Genova did her research well and it shows in this tender yet heartbreaking story. I could relate to Alice's character, especially since my mother is in the early stages of Alzheimer's. A lot of the same things Alice said, my mother has said. This story touched me so deeply that I will never forget it. It was on my wish list for over a year, and it was well worth the wait.

Highly Recommended!

Outstanding!

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Gallery; Original edition (January 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439102813
• ISBN-13: 978-1439102817

For more about the author visit www.lisagenova.com.

Want A Blogging Buddy?

How would you like a Blogging Buddy? Someone that you can share and trade books with, a kindred spirit who reads and enjoys the same genres as you do....and every once in a awhile, maybe receive little gifts in the mail? Well.....Star Shadow is matching bloggers up for Book Blogging Buddies! What a fantastic idea. I had a pen pal when I was little and loved it so much. This is along the same lines....find a new friend and share your love of books and reading.

Please visit Star Shadow HERE to sign up to be paired with a buddy. This is open to everyone!

Sign yourself up now, and be matched up with your Book Blogging Buddy!

Oh Baby! What A Giveaway!

Mommies to be, New Mommies, and everyone else who has little angels who sleep in cribs, you must not miss out on this spectacular giveaway courtesy of Baby Cribs Plus!

I've picked out a couple of my favorites....but there are so many to choose from. Different colors and styles....I'm sure you will find one that matches your nursery perfectly!

Here's the deal: The winner will win a one-time-use $100.00 gift certificate for you to use as you wish on ANY of their 200 + websites!
CSN Stores are the hosts of this giveaway....remember them? The ones with the awesome book cases and office chairs???

So....what do you have to lose? Just enter to win, by leaving me a comment complete with your email address so that I may get in touch with you if you are a winner. Giveaway ends on Friday, May 14, 2010.

Good luck!

Book Review - Firefly Rain by Richard Dansky

From Amazon.com:

When Jacob left home for a new life, he pretty much forgot all about Maryfield, North Carolina. But Maryfield never forgot him. Or forgave him.

After a failed business venture in Boston, Jacob Logan comes back to the small Southern town of his childhood and takes up residence in the isolated house he grew up in. Here, the air is still. The nights are black. And his parents are buried close by. It should feel like home—but something is terribly wrong.

Jacob loses all his belongings in a highway accident. His car is stolen from his driveway, yet he never hears a sound. The townspeople seem guarded and suspicious. And Carl, the property caretaker with so many secrets, is unnervingly accommodating. Then there are the fireflies that light the night skies . . . and die as they come near Jacob’s home. If it weren’t for the creaking sounds after dark, or the feeling that he is being watched, Jacob would feel so alone. He shouldn’t worry. He’s not.

And whatever’s with him isn’t going to let him leave home ever again.

My Thoughts:

This book moved very fast! I enjoyed following Jacob as he tries to figure out why strange things are happening in and around his childhood home. The fact that no fireflies would come onto his property was creepy and then to find out that when they were forced by Jacob to come into his yard, they immediately died. What did it mean? Was there a connection to his dead parents, whose graves are in a field behind the house? And what about Carl....a cranky old codger that never wants to be bothered, yet he is always showing up at Jacob's door?

I liked Mr. Danksy's writing style. I am also a sucker for Southern Fiction, especially North Carolina, since this is where I live. This is the first novel of his that I have read, and it won't be the last. My attention was held throughout the book, and the ending was something not to be believed. I highly recommend it!

If you enjoy scary books, then this is a must- read for you. Southern Gothic Horror at it's best!

To learn more about Richard Dansky, please click here.

Very Good!

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Gallery; Reprint edition (April 6, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439148635
• ISBN-13: 978-1439148631

Teaser Tuesday!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read* * Open to a random page* *Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page *

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! ;)

My teaser today comes from Still Alice by Lisa Genova:

~He tipped his glass back, swallowed until there was nothing left, and then sucked a little more from the ice. Then he looked at her with a scared and profound sorrow in his eyes that she'd never seen there before.~ pg. 100


What's YOUR teaser today????

Contest Winner of Amazon Gift Card!

Time to announce the winner of my 200 Followers Giveaway! Winner was chosen using Random.org.

The winner is........

BethBookaholicmom!!!!!!!

Congratulations, Beth! Please send me an email with your email address so that I may send your Amazon.com gift card to you!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the giveaway!!!

**In the event that the winner does not claim the prize, I will re-draw for another winner.**

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page.

My mailbox runneth over last week with many treasures. All books were received from PaperbackSwap.com.

Roadside Crosses by Jeffrey Deaver

The Butterfly Garden by Chip St. Clair

Summers at Blue Lake by Jill Althouse-Wood

Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio by Peg Kehret

Firefly Rain by Richard Dansky

I have already started reading Firefly Rain....it's good so far! I was reading Time Is A River by Mary Alice Monroe....it was dragging for me. I've put it aside for now...I may pick it back up later.

What was in YOUR mailbox today???

On My Wishlist #6

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where you can list all the books that you desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming.

Yay! It's Saturday and it's time to let everyone know what's on your Wishlist! Here are some that I am waiting for:

Egret Cove by Margaret Nava:

At sixty-something years old Angela Dunn has given up on finding much excitement in her life. She's got her half-blind dog, Gizmo, a crummy retail job, a tiny house, and no close friends or family to call on in her Kokomo, Indiana hometown. But when her brother, Tony, calls from Florida with a house-sitting offer, Angela has to gear up all her courage to accept. What about the bugs? The alligators? Her fear of hurricanes? Not knowing what else to do, she sells her few belongings, loads the dog into her SUV, and soon, there she is: living in a cute-as-a-bug house trailer, being romanced by a handsome, gray-haired Italian, making friends with wild women, and trying very hard to let go of the past and find the joy in life once more.


Mealy LaBauve by Ken Wells:

Fifteen-year-old Meely LaBauve is growing up on Catahoula Bayou and living by his wits. Not since Huck Finn rafted down the Mississippi has there been a coming-of-age story like this, told in such an utterly authentic unlettered American voice. From a charming encounter with first love in the Canciennes' corn patch to an adventurous paddle through wild and timeless places little explored, Ken Wells has cooked up a zesty gumbo of a book--rich, poignant, and often hilarious.

* An American Library Association/YALSA best book of the year


The Fires: A Novel by Rene Steinke:

"Once I tried to burn an old toy--a mechanical duck. When I'd found it at the bottom of a drawer, it reminded me of the groggy sunrise Easter service and the hunt for eggs in the graveyard. After I set the match to its tail, it started walking pitifully on its metal legs, and it knocked around the room singeing the walls and linoleum until it burned down to its metal frame and folded with a crackle and small battery explosion. It is less dangerous to burn things than to save them."

Ella, 22, is a trapped young woman limited to the flickers of release she finds in pyromania. Having abandoned college, she is stuck in her small, Midwestern hometown, suffocated by the silence of her repressed mother and grandmother and physically encased in ropy scars from the fire in which she was severely burned as a child. In this mesmerizing first novel, we follow her incendiary trail as Ella tries to cope with many losses: her father to cancer; her grandfather to suicide; her favorite aunt, whose whereabouts are unknown; and, finally, her sense of herself--both apart from and as one with the shocking scars that bind her skin. Ella pokes nervously at smoldering truths, but in her family the lies come as quick and fast as the deaths--and each new deceit sparks the impulse to inflame. Fire is made of grief, Ella believes, and she witnesses plenty of both in a story as entrancing and powerful as the lick and curl of a flame.


What's on YOUR wishlist this week?

A New Meme - Saturday Spotlight

Happy Saturday everyone! Lori of Lori's Reading Corner has a new meme! It is called Saturday Spotlight! Her description is:

Welcome to my new meme….Saturday Spotlight, where each week we will have a chance to showcase something new. It will be the place to gather, talk and shine the “spotlight” on all things book related. Not to mention a place to discover new to us authors, characters, series and places.

The first day of this new Meme, the topic is Ourselves! This will give us the chance to introduce ourselves to one another and learn more about each other, what we like to read, why we started our blogs, etc.

About me....I am 45 years old and live in North Carolina. I am originally from Westchester County NY, and have moved around quite a bit: West Virginia, Florida, Massachusetts and Nashville TN are places from the past that I have called home. When I arrived in North Carolina 11 years ago, I found that it was finally a place where I could put down my roots and stay forever.

I work for Ditch Witch of North Carolina, a heavy equipment dealer. We sell trenchers, backhoes, and other construction equipment. When I first started there in 2002, I was the receptionist/switchboard operator. Three years ago I took on the task of Accounts Payables as well. This is a small family-owned business. I think of all of my supervisors and co-workers as family so each day when I go work, I feel like I am visiting relatives instead of being at work.

My love of reading started when I was very little. My mom would read to me every night. By the time I was in elementary school my favorites were James & The Giant Peach, Daddy Longlegs, Charlotte's Web and The Little House series. My love for reading has never wavered. It is my favorite pastime, other than spending time with my pets, who are usually snuggled up on my lap while I am reading so I can enjoy both at the same time!

I love to read Autobiographies/Memoirs, Coming-of- Age novels, Contemporary and Southern Fiction, Horror, Post Apocalyptic and YA novels. I very rarely read Historical/British fiction, Sci Fi/Paranormal, Mysteries or Chick Lit/Romance. I started my blog because of my love of books and reading, and wanted to share my love of reading with others that feel the same way.

I am so glad that I started my book blog. I have met so many wonderful people who are supportive and caring. Thank you to all of you....I love having an "extended family" that I can share things with every day.

Please stop by Lori's Blog and participate in this fun meme.....I look foward to meeting you!