Winner of JAMIE OLIVER'S GREAT BRITAIN .

Hello and Happy Sunday! I hope all of you are enjoying a fabulous weekend! Fall has finally arrived down here in Florida so the weather has been beautiful. We even awoke to temperatures in the upper 40's this morning. Even though its already up to 75, it is still very pleasant.

And now I'm going to make the day even better for one lucky person. The winner of JAMIE OLIVER'S GREAT BRITAIN  cookbook is . . .

JoAnn 

of 

Lakeside Musing!!

I'd like to thank everyone who participated in my giveaway! And once again special Thanks to Jamie Oliver, Hyperion Publishing and TLC Book Tours for including me in the tour of this very unique cookbook! 

[TSS] And the Winner Is . . .

This giveaway was part of a TLC Book tour for BRAND NEW HUMAN BEING, a terrific debut by Emily Jeanne Miller. And the winner is . . . 

Bermudaonion!!

Thanks to everyone who entered the drawing. This debut is well worth the time in reading and I'm sure you'll feel the same way. A special thanks also to Lisa at TLC Book Tours. 

Review: Brand New Human Being by Emily Jeanne Miller (A TLC Book Tour Event) & Giveaway!

BRAND NEW HUMAN BEING is a story that is probably all too familiar in many marriages.  Logan Pyle, a grad student, met his future wife, Julie, at home in Montana while on a break from school back east and they both felt an instant connection. Julie was working for Augustus Pyle, a revered, well-known and respected attorney and also Logan's father. When Logan returned to school, neither one of them really knew if they would spend time together again. But fate decided to step in and when Julie announced to Logan a short time later that she was pregnant, Logan, although reluctant at first, stepped up and did the right thing by Julie. He left school, moved back to Montana, married Julie and prepared to be a father. Now, his son, Owen, is four years old and Logan and Julie are in a well-worn pattern of daily marital life.  


Augustus Pyle lost a long and painful battle with Cancer four months before and with his death, many changes have come.  The already strained relationship between Julie and Gus's much younger wife, Bennie, has come to a head, not to mention the financial burden Logan's outfitter store that he owns with his old friend, Bill, is not bringing in any money and is basically sitting there doing nothing. They are all trying to cope with the loss of Gus in their own way. Even little Owen is having difficulty.  He has begun sucking his thumb again and demanding to drink out of a baby bottle. Logan doesn't agree with Julie's assessment that this is 'normal behavior' according to the parenting book she is reading.

On top of that, everyone seems to have an opinion on what Logan should do with the land Gus left him in his will. Logan feels he knows what his father would want, but is met with alot of opposition. This is quickly becoming a sore spot in the marriage and Logan is feeling ganged up on. Tensions reach an all-time high when Logan walks in on something that shakes his world and makes him question everything that he has based his life on up until that point. From that moment on the decisions he makes are not good ones and have reverberating effects that could change his family forever.

My Thoughts:

 I found this to be an engaging story and because it had a quick pace, it kept me focused to find out what would happen next. Ms. Miller did a fine job of explaining the dynamics of the characters and their relationships with each other. That being said, I have to admit that there were a few characters that I didn't like very much. Julie being the one that stood out the most for me. I didn't like her dismissive attitude towards Logan and how she could make him feel as if his opinions didn't measure up to hers. I never got the feeling that she was on his side, no matter what issue they were facing. Bennie sometimes confused me and given her history with Logan, I felt she created confusion for him as well. In the end, however, she won me over.
There were times I would get frustrated with Logan when he would try to explain things to Owen in terms that a four-year-old would never be able to comprehend or he did it in a way that upset and even scared the child. Those were the times that I didn't care for Logan at all. This story certainly shows the difficulties that can surface in a marriage. Especially one that wasn't planned.  


That being said, I realize and appreciate that that is all part of the fabric of what makes this story what it is. A realistic and difficult look into what can happen when two near strangers unexpectedly create another human being and try to do the right thing for that child.  Learning as they go, not only how to be parents but about each other as well.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

Learn more about this author by visiting her website here and if you would like to win your own copy of this exciting debut novel, now is your chance! All you have to do is leave a comment either about this book or how you feel about debut authors, along with your current email address. You have until midnight on Saturday, June 23rd to enter this giveaway. Winner will be announced Sunday, June 24th.  This offer is only valid for residents in the U.S.

Special thanks go to Emily Jeanne Miller for allowing me to be one of the first to read her debut novel and to Lisa at TLC Book Tours for asking me to be a part of this tour. There are still many more dates for this tour so please stop by to see what other readers thought of this book. You can find the complete schedule by clicking the link below.

BRAND NEW HUMAN BEING Tour Schedule




BRAND NEW HUMAN BEING
Author: Emily Jeanne Miller
Publisher: Houghton Miffin Harcourt
Published: June 12, 2012
Length: 272pp
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
Source: TLC Book Tours/Netgaalley.com

Book Tour and Giveaway Tomorrow!

Just a reminder that tomorrow is the day Southern Girl Reads is spotlighting a new novel by debut author Emily Jeanne Miller.  BRAND NEW HUMAN BEING is . . . 

"A deftly plotted exploration of marriage, family and the road from child to parent. Brand New Human Being is a page-turning debut that overflows with heart and grace." 

Please stop by tomorrow for my thoughts and for a chance to win your own copy! You will find full details in tomorrow's post!!

Giveaway of April & Oliver by Tess Callahan!!

If you're like me, you've seen this book everywhere on the blogs and have wanted to read it. Good news: You can enter to win a copy of APRIL & OLIVER for your very own! Here's how: Head on over to Jo-Jo Loves To Read!!! and enter her giveaway before July 9th. She's giving away one book for every ten entries with a maximum of three books to be given away. For more details click here! Hurry, don't miss out on this great opportunity! Thanks Jo-Jo!

Giveaway of Chasing Windmills by Catherine Ryan Hyde

I read CHASING WINDMILLS by Catherine Ryan Hyde back in September and I really loved the story! (Read my review here). Several weeks ago, J. Kaye had a promotion on her MySpace page for people to nominate a book to be read and reviewed in November. I nominated this book. Well, it was chosen and reviewed and was also featured on her blog as part of the Noontime Book Chat. The rules were that the person who nominated the chosen book was to receive a copy, but since I already have a copy, I'm offering mine that I won from J. Kaye to be raffled off to a lucky reader! To be entered, go to J. Kaye's Book Blog and leave a comment on that post! The deadline is December 13th, so there's plenty of time to get entered!

This is a fantastic book and I'm sure you'd enjoy it. If you are unaware, Catherine Ryan Hyde is the author of PAY IT FORWARD, the amazing book that was made into a movie starring Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment. According to Ms. Hyde's MySpace blog, CHASING WINDMILLS is also going to film! How exciting for her!

Good luck to all of you who enter!

'Testimony' Giveaway at S. Krishna's Books!

I'm sure there are going to be a lot of people excited about this giveaway at S.Krishna's Books! There's been quite a lot of buzz about this book and I know I would love, love, LOVE to win! The contest runs through October 29th and she'll be drawing the winner on October 30th, so that gives you plenty of time to get entered. Be sure to read the rules - she's changed them up a bit to make it interesting! Click here for all the details and to get entered. Good Luck everybody!

Giveaway of The Book of Lies

Bermudaonion is having a giveaway of THE BOOK OF LIES by Brad Meltzer. You have until the 29th of September to enter so you have plenty of time. Click here for an interesting post on Brad Meltzer and the book along with the details on how to enter.

The Sunday Salon

Oh how I wish I could say that I read a lot this past week, but that simply is not the case. I just couldn’t seem to get any decent reading time in. The book I’m currently reading is OUT STEALING HORSES by Per Petterson. I’ve been wanting to read it for awhile now and please don’t get the impression that just because I’ve hit a rut this week I’m not enjoying the story, because that is not what is happening. This week was hectic for me. Some of you may remember that back in June my house was hit by lightening and I lost all my electronics . . . Well, it happened again. Wednesday afternoon I came home to darkness and the smell of burnt electric. I’m not quite sure what happened, but the power company told me it was lightening. However, thanks to my DVR I know exactly what time it happened and according to my neighbors who were home, it wasn’t even storming at that time. I intend to get to the bottom if it. Well, whatever it was took out my stove, microwave and most importantly my coffee pot! Ok, so maybe the stove is more important, but the coffee pot is a close second. So along with all that drama, I’ve also been fighting a sore throat and have just been feeling a little under the weather. I’m hoping to get back on track starting today.

In book news this week, I posted a review of MUDBOUND by Hillary Jordan. You can read that review here. I loved the book and now I’m anxiously awaiting her next release. Ms. Jordan is no doubt a very gifted writer and I enjoyed her storytelling very much. Please take a moment to read my review. I know I probably sound like Ms. Jordan’s publicist, but I feel her book is one that shouldn’t be missed.

Also this week I finished the audio book of Sarah Addison Allen’s (of Garden Spells fame) novella, IN MY DREAMS. It’s the first audio cd I’ve listened to and I found it to be very good. You can find it at BelleBooks. Look for that review in the next day or so.

Even though I didn’t get a lot of reading done, there was some excitement at Books & Cooks this week . . . I won my first book!! Thanks go out to The Literary Feline for hosting the giveaway of Joshua Henkin’s book MATRIMONY. I feel like possibly the last person on Earth to read the book, but all I can say is - better late than never! I got an email from Mr. Henkin this morning letting me know my signed copy is on its way and he’s also asked me to host my own giveaway in October. So be sure to check back in the coming weeks for more information.

I hope all of you get to spend a relaxing day doing what you want to do. I look forward to visiting your blogs to see what you’re reading. For now I’m off to grab my book and a glass of iced tea and start reading! Then later I’ll be checking out the blogs. Take care!

The Sunday Salon: In The Kitchen

Hello Saloners! I had a pretty interesting week. I had my first author guest on Wednesday. In case you missed it, you can click here for that post from Kathleen McCleary. Also I drew a winner to receive a copy of her book HOUSE AND HOME. And the winner is BEASTMOMMA! Congratulations! I hope you will enjoy the book.

I finished MUDBOUND by Hillary Jordan this week and I’ll have my review in a few days. I’m also still reading OUT STEALING HORSES and so far I’m enjoying it. In the mail this week I received another book from author Catherine Ryan Hyde. I read her book CHASING WINDMILLS few weeks ago and enjoyed it so much, she asked me to read her latest. It’s a Young Adult piece called THE DAY I KILLED JAMES. From what I’ve read about it, I’m sure it will be a terrific read. I’m anxious to get started, but I have a few a head of it first.

Today I’m going to get back to something I’ve gotten away from lately. As my blog is called Books and Cooks, I thought it was time to share a recipe I'll be making today. I love to cook and I typically try to cook something new or special on Sundays. This recipe isn’t exactly new - I’ve made it once before and loved it. One of my new favorite flavors is curry. I think it’s the earthiness I like, the nutmeg/cinnamon combo perhaps. So today I’m making a chicken curry dish. Here’s the recipe - it’s pretty easy and with Fall just around the corner, I think it’s perfect for the season and it doesn’t take a lot of special ingredients.

Winnipeg Chicken Curry

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 onions, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• 2 chicken breasts (or you can use chicken tenders)
• 2 cups chicken stock, heated
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons cold water
• 1/4 cup heavy cream (you can use milk, but it won’t be as thick)
• salt & pepper

Heat butter in large frying pan.
When hot, add onions; cook 5-6 minutes over medium heat. Stir occasionally.
Mix in curry powder and cook 3-4 minutes over low.
Add chicken and stir; season well.
Cook 2-3 minutes over medium.
Pour in chicken stock and bring to boil.
Continue cooking 9-10 minutes over medium low heat. Mix cornstarch with water; stir into sauce. Cook 1 minute. Pour in cream and bring to boil; cook 2-3 minutes and season well.

You can either serve it over rice or noodles. I also like to have a green vegetable and some cinnamon applesauce with this meal. I like it because it’s not overloaded with curry flavor, so if you’ve never had curry before, this would be a great way to try the spice for the first time. And your kitchen will smell wonderful! I found this recipe on Recipezaar, a great website where people share all kinds of dishes.

Well, that’s it for me today, I’m going to go read for awhile, then come back and check in on some other Saloners to see what you're reading. And then later I have a tasty meal to prepare for dinner. Yummy! By the way, if you do decide to try the recipe, I'd love know how you liked it! Enjoy!

TS Fay Update & 'Matrimony' Giveaway

As I sit here waiting on the winds and rain to arrive from South Florida, I'm catching up on my blog reading. The storm is due to reach my area in a few hours and should last until Wednesday morning. I won't be doing anything on my computer during that time, as I just got everything replaced from a lightening strike last month. I'm not taking any chances. This is what it looked like this morning.

One more thing before I shut down my computer - I want to mention a book giveaway from Naida at the Bookworm. She has a signed copy of MATRIMONY by Joshua Henkin she is giving away to a lucky reader. She's written a fabulous review of the book as well. You can read it here and also find out how to get entered into the contest. The drawing will be held Saturday, August 30th, so you have plenty of time. I have read so many great things about this book and I would love to win it!

Good Luck to everyone!

Paying It Forward

It's no secret we all love books. Its our passion. But some of us have other passions that we don't always get to share on our blogs. For instance, one of my other passions is cooking. I haven't been blogging much lately about cooking because my reading has pretty much taken over, but I intend to make more time for both. Naida, from The Bookworm has a passion for crocheting and its obvious she is great at it! And she would like to share that passion with us. As I'm sure most of you are aware, there have been an amazing number of book giveaways lately, but now there's a giveaway of a different sort. Naida is going to raffle off one of the beautiful scarfs she has made. I know, its summer, but time goes so fast and the colder weather will be upon us before we know it. Entering the giveaway is easy. Simply click HERE to go to her post titled Pay It Forward, where she has written an excecllent review of Catherine Ryan Hyde's book and leave a comment. There's ways to get addtional entries too, so be sure to read all the way through for the whole scoop! There's plenty of time to enter, so good luck to all of you! So tell me, what are your other passions besides reading and books? Is it gardening? cycling? Do you belong to a league of some kind? I would love to know what your other passions are!

More Book Giveaways!!

Bookroom Reviews has announced another huge giveway from Hatchette Book Group. Five lucky people will win a set of 14 books from all different genres so there's sure to be something for everyone! There'a also a chance for one additional person to win Stephanie Meyer's new book BREAKING DAWN. There are many ways to get entered, so click here for all the details. The contest deadline is August 9th at midnight, so you have plenty of time to get entered. Be sure to go to Bookroom Reviews site to check out some of the titles in the set. I saw several that I would love to have!

Also, Lisa over at Books On The Brain is reading QUEEN OF THE ROAD by Doreen Orion and loving it. Lisa describes it as a romantic travel memoir of a year the author and her husband spend traveling the country. She hasn't finished the book, but she says it's really quite funny. She has informtion on her site about a a giveaway of that book as well. You can click here to get full details on how to enter.

I've never been lucky enough to win a book in a giveaway, but its still exciting for the chance! I especially love the thought of getting books from authors I've never read before! Good luck to everyone!

Huge Book Giveaway!

Summer is a great time for book giveaways and I'm sure some of you may have heard about the awesome 14 book Summer Reads Giveaway from Trish over at Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'? sponsored by Hachette Book Group USA. The deadline is July 12th so you still have some time to get in on this amazing offer! Entering is easy! Simply post a comment on Trish's blog to get one entry. There are many other ways to get additional entries as well, so click here for more details about the contest. As many as 5 people can win 14 books from all different genres including mystery, historical fiction, true crime, romance, memoirs, general fiction just to name a few. You don't want to miss out on this opportunity!

I have several ARCs that should be arriving soon that I'm particularly excited about. Two of them are women's fiction, which I love. One is THE REST OF HER LIFE by Laura Moriarty. Another is a debut novel HOUSE AND HOME by Kathleen McCleary. If anyone has read either of these books. let me know how you liked them. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Along with the women's fiction, I have some interesting mysteries by J.F. Englert to review that are sure to be entertaining. They are the first two books from a fairly new series called The Bull Moose Dog Run Mystery Series. They feature Randolph, a high-brow black lab who is not only the narrator, but also cracks the case! The first is A DOG ABOUT TOWN and the follow-up is A DOG AMONG DIPLOMATS. I've been told they're cleverly witty and very well written. I'm sure they'll be fun to read!

Don't forget to enter Trish's giveaway! Good Luck to everyone!

Booking Through Thursday: Definition

What, in your opinion, is the definition of a “reader.” A person who indiscriminately reads everything in sight? A person who reads BOOKS? A person who reads, period, no matter what it is? … Or, more specific? Like the specific person who’s reading something you wrote?

Interesting question. To me, a reader is someone who thoroughly enjoys reading in general. When I think of a 'reader', I picture someone who enjoys learning from reading, whether it be from novels, non-fiction, magazines, blogs etc. Even if you're reading a novel, I believe you learn from that story. You learn about the theme of the book, its locale, and many other aspects. Lately I've enjoyed many non-fiction books and I come away with so much insight into things I wouldn't ordinarily become familiar with. Reading = Learning.

On the other hand, I don't consider someone who only reads the local newspaper every day to be a 'reader'. There are a lot of people who read the paper daily who don't care to sit and read a book.

So in answer to this question, I would say I believe a reader to be someone who chooses to read and enjoyes learning from reading no matter what the format.

I'd also like to mention that there are still a few days left to enter my book giveaway. I'm giving away my ARC of THE RICHEST SEASON by Maryann McFadden. Simply leave a comment here by 6/28/08 at 9:00 pm to enter. Good Luck!

The Sunday Salon: A Book Giveaway

Hello and welcome! It's been a busy Sunday for me so far, so I haven't had the chance to read yet, but I'm hoping to open a book a bit later. The storm clouds are rolling in and that sounds like a great way to spend the afternoon. Reading while the rain comes down and the thunder grumbles. The book I've chosen is GARDEN SPELLS by Sarah Addison Allen. It came out in paperback last month and I was lucky enough to find a copy at the local used book store. I've heard so many wonderful reviews and its the type of book I normally wouldn't pick up. It's leaning towards the fantasy genre and I typically am not drawn to that. But so many fellow book bloggers have raved about it and have gotten me curious. I'm really looking forward to it.


I finished up a couple ARCs this week. The first was a biographical account of the life and death of Dr. Joe Slowinski, a herpetologist who dedicated his life to the study of snakes and their venom. He died in 2001 in Myanmar after being bitten by a krait, one of the most deadly snakes in the world. (Review here) The other book I reviewed was THE RICHEST SEASON by Maryann McFadden. (Review here) It's the story of two women who find themselves on Pawley's Island, South Carolina each making difficult choices in their lives. It's a nice summer read that will leave you wanting to feel the silky sand from the beach on your feet.

One of the highlights of this week was when Garth Stein, author of THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN sent me an email expressing his appreciation for my mention of the book and my rave reviews here on my blog! I was so surprised and happy to hear from him!

I've been seeing so many great book giveaways on the blogs lately, and I've decided to jump in with one of own! I've never given a book away on my blog, so this is a milestone for me. And I thought there was no better place to announce it than on The Sunday Salon. The book I'll be giving away is my ARC of THE RICHEST SEASON. To be entered in the random drawing, simply post a comment here on my blog before 9:00 pm Saturday June 28th. I'll announce the winner on next weeks Sunday Salon post! If you'd like an additional chance to win, mention this giveaway on your blog and link it back to me. (This contest is limited to residents living in the U.S. and Canada) Good luck to all of you! I'm so excited to be sharing my copy with some lucky reader!