Winner!

I have a winner for The Home Fires Are Burning...My Feet!

Congratulations to 

Lenore Keough Webb

I sent you an email. Please reply with the 

information I need to get this terrific book to you. 

*Check out my other contests on the sidebar!*

Giveaway reminder!

My contest for The Home Fires Are Burning...My Feet! by Nora Barry ends tonight! The author will give a paperback or ebook version to the winner. Sign up now for a hilarious book!

Saturday Snapshot

 Saturday Snapshot is hosted by At Home with Books. To participate in this meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
 I live in a small town in a rural section of NY state. It's very beautiful here with hills and trees and changing seasons, although I'm not a big fan of snow anymore. One month of winter would be enough for me! I have been planning to post photos of my hometown library for a long time. I finally took my camera in this week and got some of the shots I wanted. It's very impressive and is a rare gem in our area. I need to get more of the interior to do it justice but I have some nice shots of the outside to give a glimpse of this beautiful building. It's really so much more impressive in person though. I think this will have to be a multi-part post to show the different sections.

Our library has the largest collection in the county. Started in 1935, the Georgian Colonial style building was opened in 1937 thanks to an endowment fund of a local family. The materials are a combination of New England Colonial Harvard Brick for the walls and Indiana limestone for the trim. The roof shingles are hand-made from clay. Some of the original flagstone terrace in the front was recently replaced due to problems caused by tree roots and the back terrace and extensive lawns have been modified over the years. A charming cupola adorns the roof over the front entrance. The interior has a beautiful foyer with hand-carved pillars and wood trim, a reading and reference room, children's and picture book rooms, meeting and exhibition rooms, local history room, a beautifully remodeled auditorium that seats 340 people - and I haven't even mentioned the top floor yet!

Since the large back terrace was restored a few years ago (after 40 years of being closed off) the library hosts more events. The local high school now holds their spring prom inside with access to the back.  Weddings and receptions are frequently held there as well and all kind of events take place in the auditorium and exhibition room. During the summer there is even music on the front lawn once a week when local talent performs with free concerts.

I'm sorry for such a long post and so many photos but it is such a special place for me and I wanted to share it. The building and the grounds are beautiful and provide many services to our community. Fortunately we have volunteers who provide additional help to keep this ship sailing smoothly. I use this library every week and now that my kids are older, I think I will volunteer more of my time to give back as well. Interior photos to be posted another day!

Our beautiful public library!

Front entrance with cupola above it

New front patio with various benches, flowers & lighting

View from front patio towards front yard & Main Street

One set of bench seating with landscaping in front yard

Back view of library with staircase and parking to left, basement staff parking on right. Stone railing surrounds terrace

Back entrance to auditorium

Back terrace with flower fountain and cafe seating

Corner bench seat on back terrace

Giveaway: Poopendous! by Artie Bennett

I have one autographed copy to give away provided by the generous author!

My review of Poopendous!


Rules:
- Fill out the Rafflecopter form below to enter.
- U.S. only (sorry everyone else!)
- Extra entries available
- Ends 9/7/12, 11:59 pm EST

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Poopendous! By Artie Bennett

The inside scoop 

on every type and 
use of poop!

Rhyming couplets feature Professor Poopdeck and two young friends as he takes them on a type of poop safari. Words for poop (i.e. guano, number two, ca-ca), its forms and styles (cubes, tubular, wet and dry), and myriad of uses (i.e. souvenirs, a means of tracking and marking, housing insulation, food, fertilizer, fuel) are all conveyed with humor and a certain demand for respect. It's a book that says: Don't just flush this stuff away! While it may dismay and stink, there's more to this stuff than you might think!
(Goodreads.com)
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Review
I was lucky enough to have children's author, Artie Bennett, send me The Butt Book to review last year. The grandkiddos loved it so of course I said yes when he asked if I would like to read and review his new book! Poopendous! is another delightfully silly (yet tasteful) book that is entertaining as well as educational. Professor P. Poopdeck is our narrator and teaches us that different animals make different shapes and there are even a variety of uses for poop. All of this and more are described in rhyming text. I didn't expect to learn so much myself! I've read it with my four year-old granddaughter several times and she asks questions and makes intelligent comments every time. 

Mike Moran has added comical illustrations sure to charm children and adults. His work perfectly compliments the story. While the topic could easily have been handled poorly, author and illustrator have made this an enjoyable adventure. I look forward to more from Artie Bennet. Fans for life at our house!

Thank you to the author for a copy of this book to review.

Author
Illustrator
Publisher

Release date: 3/27/12
Publisher: Blue Apple Books
Pages: 36 (hardcover)
Type: children's fiction

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays 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!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
We will embrace this beauty and make something of it. We will hold our precious gift and know that we are lucky. I feel lucky. I feel privileged. I feel there is a plan so beautiful in store...and we get to live it. Wow.
The story has begun...
~page 18
Bloom by Kelle Hampton

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday (started at The Printed Page and now a traveling meme) is at 5 Minutes For Books this month and is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do). Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

~~~~~~~~~~~~I had some unexpected but very pleasant surprises this week! First, I got a package from author Michelle Moran who has been very generous with her last few new releases. I don't read historical fiction as often as I should and her books are a good reminder of that. She is an amazing writer and I look forward to this title as well! I also received a mysterious box this week. I was thrilled to find inside a set of YA arcs from "Penguin Breathless Reads" campaign. Five debuts from five different authors for Fall 2012 in their own little bookcase! How cool is that?? I hope you found plenty of goodies in your mailbox last week too!

The Second Empress by Michelle Moran
From the author (hardcover)

Origin by Jessica Khoury
From Penguin (arc)

The Innocents by Lili Peloquin
From Penguin (arc)

Venom by Lili Peloquin
From Penguin (arc)

Black City from Elizabeth Richards
From Penguin (arc)

Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
From Penguin (arc)

The Archived by Victoria Schwab (sneak peek)
For review from NetGalley (ebook)

Giveaway: Of Poseidon (arc) by Anna Banks

I have been lucky enough to receive some great books and I am very happy to share them with others. Since I got the summer Fierce Reads selections from Macmillan and have no one to give them to among my family and friends, I want to keep sharing them with you! This is the second book from these debut authors. If you're interested just sign up below for my gently used arc. I may just have a few more of these to share after I post my other reviews so stay tuned!

My review of Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

Rules:
- Fill out the Rafflecopter form below to enter.
- U.S. & Canada only (sorry everyone else!)
- Extra entries available
- Ends 9/2/12, 11:59 pm EST

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Saturday Snapshot

 Saturday Snapshot is hosted by At Home with Books. To participate in this meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
A few months ago my mom had to have her dog, Mickey, put to sleep because of a cancerous tumor that had started in his leg and spread through his body. He was a seven year-old golden retriever and such a sweetie. My mom was broken-hearted and we miss him. She decided to get another puppy and brought home this little fuzz ball in early July. His name is Moe, he's a big ham and loves posing when I get out the camera! These are a few favorites from our photo sessions.

Happy boy in my new home!

Aren't I soooo cute?

It's been a hot summer and I'm lucky to have a pool

Look how much I've grown in one month!

 

Interview and Giveaway: The Home Fires Are Burning...My Feet! by Nora Barry

I can't stress enough how much I related to this book! Nora made me laugh at her story and my own. Sometimes, that's all you can do is laugh...
She was kind enough to grant me an interview and provide a book for a giveaway!

(Wrighty's Reads) I have three sons so I laughed so hard at your book! How did it come about? 
(Nora Barry) When my boys were both in diapers I was telling a funny story about them to an old friend from school and he said, “You sound like Erma Bombeck, you should write this stuff down.”  But I became a single mom a few months later and frankly between single parenting, diapers and working, I barely had time to breathe.  I eventually began to write late at night, but it wasn’t about parenting.  I don’t think I had the perspective for it then.  When the boys were in high school I was frustrated at something I was working on and George suggested I take a week off and just write.  I remember saying, I can’t afford to do that!  So he wrote a check and said here, here’s a paycheck.  Go write for a week and see what happens.  So I did.  I wrote about five or six 800 word stories—I was thinking column size and that was a standard column word count (this was 2007).  I shared the stories with friends and they all said, keep going!  So I created a blog, The Dame Domain, and started writing posts several times a week.  It was a pure writing exercise for me, like going to the gym.  And you know, high school just gives you a slew of material—proms and learning to drive and sports and sex and—you don’t have to make it up.  It’s just there day after day.  Eventually the blog was picked up and syndicated to Reuters and some other news outlets.  I stopped writing when the Snapper graduated in 2010.  A year later I read an article about self-publishing and thought, hey I can do that.  So I took the blog down and began winnowing essays from it, and created a narrative sequence of what I had written.  I published it as an eBook last year in May, and then as a paperback in November. 
Where did the title come from?  
 I have no idea, truthfully, it just popped into my mind.  And I liked it because it nails what a lot of us feel—I love being a mom but sometimes it gets to you—burns your feet a bit I guess.
You've been compared to Erma Bombeck and your writing is a riot! Where did you get your great sense of humor? (It sounds like your family shares it too!) 
 My parents have a great sense of humor—they’re the ones who taught me the expression, “Aside from that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?”  which I take as words to live by! But also, I started writing the blog when I was 49 and age gives you perspective.  I truly believe that when things get tough you can give in or you can find the absurdity and laugh.  I just choose to laugh. That wasn’t always the way—I went thru a very tough and long divorce.  I left him and he was angry and got nasty.  I can assure you that I cried more than I laughed.  It took me a few years to eventually change my attitude and once I did, I was able to find the humor.
Would you like to put in a plug for Druid Media, Inc and/or Webdame? 
Webdame is a sometimes blog.  I took down The Dame Domain but I don’t want to get lazyJ  Druid Media is my company and under that shingle I still write and produce for a lot of corporate clients.
What is your background? 
Writer, producer, Francophile.  Lover of medieval history and the history of storytelling. I come from a large, rambunctious, Irish Catholic family.
How is your family now?
Good!  Wally just graduated from college, the Snapper is a rising junior, George survived cancer.  I as I write this I worry however—the Snapper has a tendency to break an arm during the Republican Convention.  It’s the oddest thing but it’s true and now one is coming up this month!:)
More books to come? (please!) 
 I started a series of short stories, “Story Courts”, that are modern re-tellings of fairy tales.  I’m fascinated by fairy tales and how the same narratives are found in cultures all over the world. So I’ve finished three so far—“An Apple A Day” (Snow White), “Theresa A Twitter” (Arabian Nights) and “A Different Story—The Chess Queen” (actually based on a real character, Eleanor of Aquitaine).  I have another 95% finished, “In The Swim” (The Little Mermaid).
What do you hope to be doing five years from now? 
 I’d like to be producing along with writing.  I’m fascinated by transmedia storytelling.

photo from Goodreads

 Favorite dessert? 
Ice cream!!!!!
Favorite season? 
Summer—I love being outside. 
Paper or plastic? 
I’ll be honest—I used cloth diapers for both kids.  So now, every summer, I use paper plates as an indulgence.  I feel as if cloth diapers gave me a free environmental pass!

Author Nora Barry has generously offered a copy of her book for me to give away here!
My review of The Home Fires Are Burning...My Feet!


Rules:
- Fill out the Rafflecopter form below to enter.
-  Winner has choice of paperback or ebook
- U.S. & Canada only (sorry everyone else!)
- Extra entries available
- Ends 8/26/12, 11:59 pm EST

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

 Dive right in!

Galen is the prince of the Syrena, sent to land to find a girl he's heard can communicate with fish. Emma is on vacation at the beach. When she runs into Galen — literally, ouch! — both teens sense a connection. But it will take several encounters, including a deadly one with a shark, for Galen to be convinced of Emma's gifts. Now, if he can only convince Emma that she holds the key to his kingdom . . .

Told from both Emma and Galen's points of view, here is a fish-out-of-water story that sparkles with intrigue, humor, and waves of romance.
(Goodreads.com)
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Review 
The first thing I noticed was the striking cover of this book. I haven't read many stories about mermaids so wasn't sure what to expect. This was an easy summer read and I was pleasantly surprised. There was  humor, romance, mystery and action that started from the first pages. I think I would have enjoyed discovering this one as a teenager myself.
 
The story was told in alternating points of view from teen Emma (first person) and Prince Galen of Syrena (third person). I did like these characters but found them a bit wishy washy at times. The snarky sense of humor was very appealing to me, as was the sarcasm and some of the witty dialogue. I also liked the light romance instead of the intense love triangle that is so common. This seemed age appropriate. I found some of the secondary characters more interesting at times. Rayna, Galen's sister, and Rachel, his mother-figure, grew on me with their strong, feisty personalities.

 For the most part the writing flowed and it was easy to read. It was a bit awkward to transition from first person to third person with each chapter but I got used to it. I thought the mythology of the Serena (mermaids) and the world building were very interesting. I want to learn even more about the houses of Serena and Triton. I did have some problems with actions of different characters. For example, it seemed with the traumas Emma had in her life she would be more cautious, especially around strangers and definitely around the water. Emma's mom was also way too trusting of strangers and displayed other strange behaviors. Although it was under false pretenses, she let her only daughter, a teenager, spend so much time with Galen's family unchecked. There was also some stalker-like behavior displayed that seemed extreme. Attraction is good but jealous, obsessive behavior is not. That is just my opinion and may be the parent in me, it just seemed too easily accepted.

The end of this debut had an intriguing twist that I did see coming, but I liked it. There was also a good cliffhanger that left me wanting to read the next book in the series. I'm very curious to see what this author will be writing in the future.
Of Triton (book #2) spring 2013

Thank you to Macmillan (Fierce Reads) for an arc in exchange of my honest review.

Author
Publisher 
Fierce Reads

Release date: 5/22/12
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Pages: 336 (hardcover)
Type: YA fiction

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday (started at The Printed Page and now a traveling meme) is at 5 Minutes For Books this month and is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do). Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
 I can't believe it's already mid-August. Ugh. I get so depressed this time of year knowing that summer is winding down. It bothered me even more when my kids were in school and I was still a teacher. I just need to shake it off and enjoy the amazing sunshiny weather we will still have coming our way. I do love to be outside and I have several cozy places to curl up with a good book. Of course, my favorite is my hammock. I've probably never mentioned that here, have I? HA!

I hope you're enjoying your mid-August days and that plenty of great reads have made their way to your home. These are some of my goodies from last week!

The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom
For review from NetGalley (ebook)

The Bourne Imperative by Eric Van Lustbader
Won from Under My Apple Tree (hardcover)

Lock Down By Sean Black
Free from Kobo (ebook)

The Lost Treasure Of Tuckernuck by Emily Fairlie
For review from Harpercollins (arc)

Skullduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy
Free from Sync (audio)

Crux by Moira Rogers
Free from Barnes & Noble (ebook)

Saturday Snapshot

 Saturday Snapshot is hosted by At Home with Books. To participate in this meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.
~~~~~~~~~~~~

We enjoyed some great days at the lake last week. We still couldn't get everyone there but we got as many together as possible. Now that the kids are getting older and most of them have jobs, it's hard to find a week when they can all take time off. For those of us who could get there (and I was there the entire time!) it was terrific to reconnect, bond and eventually start bugging the crap out of each other. Ah, family...

Hubby/Grandpa giving swimming lessons

My oldest son with his baby boy, who loves to suck on corn cobs!

My mom with her two great-grandchildren and new puppy

Nephews fishing from the dock

Full moon rising over the lake

Final evening, relaxing at the dock

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays 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!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
And then this bright light opened onto me. And I saw how Mrs. Wooly had gotten the emergency door open. In her hands she held an ax.
And I heard her shout:
"Get in the godforsaken bus!"
~page 8
Monument 14 (arc) by Emmy Laybourne

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday (started at The Printed Page and now a traveling meme) is at 5 Minutes For Books this month and is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do). Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our vacation at the lake is over (*heavy sigh*) and since we had no internet I have some catching up to do. I'm behind on a few memes and I'll be posting reviews and giveaways. These are the goodies I got during the last week or so. I hope you had plenty of good things in your mailbox as well!

Outpost by Ann Aguirre
For review from Macmillan (arc)

Bite Me by Parker Blue
Free from Amazon (ebook)

The Long Midnight of Barney Thomson by Douglas Lindsay
Free from Kobo (ebook)

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Lani Taylor
Free from Sync (audio)

Jasper John Dooley: Star of the Week by Caroline Anderson
For review from NetGalley (ebook)

The Last Romanov by Dora Levy Mossanen
Free from Barnes & Noble Free Friday (ebook)