Thursday, October 01, 2009

Playing House: A Novel by Fredrica Wagman

When Playing House appeared in 1973, Publishers Weekly hailed it, "A probing descent into madness that will fascinate the same audience that appreciated I Never Promised You a Rose Garden." This nationally bestselling story of one woman's struggle with the lasting effects of a childhood sexual relationship with her brother shocked American readers, and is a literary work of enduring quality and value.

about the author (from Amazon):
My name is Fredrica Wagman, but it wasn't always. I started out as Riki Barris, "Riki" being short for Rita Fredrica, born in Philadelphia where I spent the first four years of my life in my grandparents home with my mother and father and my older brother. It was a great sprawling place where there were maids and my baby-nurse, big cars, a devoted chauffer by the name of I.J. Duckett, and the warmth of aunts and uncles and my grandparents all around us all the time whom I adored.
When I was four we moved into our own small house which was very hard on my mother who was used to all the space and all the help that everyone there could provide. My mother became quite depressed when we moved away from my grandparents and a hard time ensued after that for my brother and me. My father was a dentist, an oral surgeon who specialized in extracting teeth which was a kind of speciality in those days, although barbers were proported to have been doing it for years without all the training and all the honors my father collected at the University of Pennsylvania's dental school.
I attended schools first in the suburbs of Philadelphia and then in the city which was where we moved when I was eleven years old. I was married at a very early age, shamefully early, to Howard Wagman. Had five children, lost one, attended the University of Pennsylvania and Bryn Mawr College after the children were born, and was writing fiction and poetry for as long as I can remember.
Fredrica Wagman is the author of six novels -- Playing House, His Secret Little Wife, Mrs. Hornstien, Peachy, and Magic Man, Magic Man --and The Lie, just released in April 2009
my thoughts:
The first Fredrica Wagman book that I read was ‘The Lie’. As disturbing as that book was, ‘Playing House’ was more so. The book is told from the main characters POV, with the main character being involved in a non consensual incestuous relationship with her brother from a very early age. And of course this totally messes with her.
This book is not a quick & easy read. Yes, it is 176 pages long, but I could not sit and read it in one sitting. It was just too much. There were several parts that I had to just skip right over, I couldn’t read it. For me, this book was a dark story, with no happy ending.


Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Blog Tour & Giveaway~ Bo's Cafe

High-powered executive Steven Kerner is living the dream in southern California. But when his bottled pain ignites in anger one night, his wife kicks him out. Then an eccentric mystery man named Andy Monroe befriends Steven and begins unravelling his tightly wound world. Andy leads Steven through a series of frustrating and revealing encounters to repair his life through genuine friendship and the grace and love of a God who has been waiting for him to accept it. A story to challenge and encourage, BO'S CAFE is a model for all who struggle with unresolved problems and a performance-based life.




about the authors:
Bruce McNicol is president of Leadership Catalyst, Inc. and an international speaker and consultant. He holds a master's in theology and a doctorate in organizational and leadership development. Previously he served for ten years as president of the international church planting organization Interest Associates. Bill Thrall serves as vice-chair of Leadership Catalyst, mentor, and coauthor of the bestselling TrueFaced resources (http://www.truefaced.com/), The Ascent of a Leader, and Beyond Your Best. John Lynch is a national conference speaker and writer for LCI, holds a master's of theoology from Talbot Seminary, and has twenty years' experience as a teaching pastor of Open Door Fellowship. He's also cofounder and playwright of a theater troupe in Phoenix.

About the Contest:

Thanks to Miriam at Hachette Book Group

Five winners will be choosen

The Contest ends at midnight on October 16th

Open to US & Canadian addresses. No PO Boxes please.

To win:

Your first comment should be your name & email address (1 entry)

Your second comment should be that you are a follower (but only if you are!) (1 entry)

Your third comment, should you choose to do so, should be a link where you have posted about the giveaway (this will count for 2 entries)

Tour Stop & Giveaway~ A Highlanders Temptation by Sue Ellen Welfonder



Darroc MacConacher spends sleepless nights dreaming of a raven-haired beauty who makes him ache with desire. Then his dream comes true: the lady with her lush curves and fair skin appears shipwrecked on his shores. Darroc is immediately drawn to her strength and beauty, and from the moment she lays eyes on this powerful, broad-shouldered warrior, Lady Arabella MacKenzie knows she'll never want another man.But theirs is a forbidden love. The MacKenzies drove the MacConachers from their lands and destroyed their honor. Now, Darroc can use this sapphire-eyed seductress to shatter his foes. Yet how can he deny the passion that burns between him and Arabella, and ruin the one woman who touches his very soul?


about the author:


Sue-Ellen Welfonder is a card-carrying Scotophile whose burning wish to make frequent (free) trips to the land of her dreams led her to a twenty year career with the airlines. Bi-lingual, she flew international all those years, working her flights as foreign language speaker. Her flying career allowed her to see the world, but it was always to Scotland that she returned.
Now a full-time writer, she's quick to admit that she much prefers wielding a pen to pushing tea and coffee. She spent fifteen years living in Europe and used that time to explore as many castle ruins, medieval abbeys, and stone circles as possible. Anything ancient, crumbling, or lichened caught her eye. She makes annual visits to Scotland, insisting they are a necessity as each trip gives her inspiration for new books.
Proud of her own Hebridean ancestry, she belongs to two clan societies: the MacFie Clan Society and the Clan MacAlpine Society. In addition to Scotland, her greatest passions are medieval history, the paranormal, and dogs. She never watches television, loves haggis, and writes at a four-hundred-and-fifty year old desk that once stood in a Bavarian castle.
Sue-Ellen is married and currently resides in Florida. Her life is ruled by the most adorable Jack Russell Terrier in the world. He's the only soul allowed to disrupt her when she's on deadline. For him, she'd walk across glass shards or jump through a burning hoop. She only wishes all dogs could be so loved and asks readers to consider rescue if they are thinking about getting a pet. We can't change the world, but it is possible to make a world of difference to a needy animal.
Sue-Ellen also writes Scottish-set paranormals for Penguin/NAL under her pen name, Allie Mackay http://www.alliemackay.com/.



About the Contest:


Thanks to Anna at Hachette Book Group


Five winners will be choosen


The Contest ends at midnight on October 9th


Open to US & Canadian addresses. No PO Boxes please.


To win:


Your first comment should be your name & email address (1 entry)


Your second comment should be that you are a follower (but only if you are!) (1 entry)


Your third comment, should you choose to do so, should be a link where you have posted about the giveaway (this will count for 2 entries)



And The Winner Is~ Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Mom's by Jane Doiron



And the winner of:
Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms
is:

budletsmom

Congratulations!

I will be emailing you for your

address today!

Waiting on Wednesday...

Waiting on Wednesday was started by Jill overat Breaking The Spine.
If you haven't visited her blog, you should! Thanks Jill!!
Shadowland by Alyson Noel

She always believed he was her destiny—but what if fate has other plans? Enter the realm of The Immortals—and experience the extraordinary #1 New York Times bestselling series that has taken the world by storm. Ever and Damen have traveled through countless past lives—and fought off the world's darkest enemies—so they could be together forever. But just as their long-awaited destiny is finally within reach, a powerful curse falls upon Damen...one that could destroy everything. Now a single touch of their hands or a soft brush of their lips could mean sudden death—plunging Damen into a bleak afterlife in the Shadowland, an eternal abyss for lost souls. Desperate to break the curse and save Damen, Ever immerses herself in magick—and gets help from an unexpected source...Jude Knight. Although she and Jude have only just met, he feels startlingly familiar. Despite her fierce loyalty to Damen, Ever is drawn to Jude, a green-eyed golden boy with magical talents and a mysterious past. She's always believed Damen to be her soul mate and one true love—and she still believes it to be true. But as Damen pulls away to save them from the darkness inhabiting his soul, Ever's connection with Jude grows stronger—and tests her love for Damen like never before...
Book Info:
Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (November 17, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 031259044X
ISBN-13: 978-0312590444

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

AND THE WINNERS ARE...Simon's Cat by Simon Tofield

And the winners for


'Simon's Cat'
by Simon Tofield are:



RachieG


etirv


cqueen2


Carolsue


Belinda M


Congratulations!

I will be emailing you today

please reply with your address

withing 72 hours!

Monday, September 28, 2009

How do YOU plan a vacation?

We do not vacation much, but we've decided since Britt will be graduating in June that we should take one last family vacation and we've decided to hit Arizona. Yep. The Grand Canyon. Now I just have to plan the darn thing. I'm horrible at planning things. I wish I could just get everyone loaded into the car (yep, I think we're driving) and take off. No plans needed. But of course, that is just not possible! We are thinking of taking 9 days since we're driving. But I'm not sure how I should pick hotels and other things.

So, tell me...do you use a travel agent? Do everything online?
I'm not even sure where to start something like this!

AND THE WINNERS ARE...

And the winners for
'Supreme Courtship by Christopher Buckley'
are:
etirv
dina(your email bounced back to me!)
Heather
cherdon
Marjorie
Please email me within 72 hours with
your mailing address!
Congratulations!

Sunday, September 27, 2009

In My Mailbox was started by The Story Siren.
If you haven't visited her blog, you should!


'The Code Of Destiny' by Sara Enochs



Ava Ballantyne has a unique and special gift. A gift so powerful that she's not even allowed to share it with her closest friends. She knows that if this information fell into the wrong hands, the consequences could be dire.
At every turn there are those who want to learn her secrets. It's only natural for them to be curious about a woman who is not only deeply connected to an age-old secret society, but who's also being pursued by a telepathic CIA agent.
Join Ava as she daydreams about the past and begins to understand our future by reinventing her own life story, in The Code of Destiny.





'The Art Of Meaningful Living'


by Christopher M. Brown


"Meaningful living is choosing your passions over your fears. It is accepting what you cannot control and focusing on what is in your power." Too often our meaningful lives and the things we are passionate about are buried under disappointments and lost dreams. Christopher F. Brown, LCSW, MBA, offers a powerful book combining psychological concepts with beautiful, provocative artwork done by John Palmer to help us move beyond the pain in our present lives to something more valuable and joyful. Divided into four stages, Brown has put together this thought-provoking guide to transform a life filled with dissatisfaction to a life filled with true meaning. Open to any page and begin your own journey toward a meaningful life.



'9 Dragons' by Michael Connelly


LAPD Detective Harry Bosch is off the chain in the fastest, fiercest, and highest-stakes case of his life.
Fortune Liquors is a small shop in a tough South L.A. neighborhood, a store Bosch has known for years. The murder of John Li, the store's owner, hits Bosch hard, and he promises Li's family that he'll find the killer.
The world Bosch steps into next is unknown territory. He brings in a detective from the Asian Gang Unit for help with translation--not just of languages but also of the cultural norms and expectations that guided Li's life. He uncovers a link to a Hong Kong triad, a lethal and far-reaching crime ring that follows many immigrants to their new lives in the U.S.
And instantly his world explodes. The one good thing in Bosch's life, the person he holds most dear, is taken from him and Bosch travels to Hong Kong in an all-or-nothing bid to regain what he's lost. In a place known as Nine Dragons, as the city's Hungry Ghosts festival burns around him, Bosch puts aside everything he knows and risks everything he has in a desperate bid to outmatch the triad's ferocity.

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Dolly Parton's Imagination Library