Friday, April 2, 2010

Book Contest Winners!!

Here are the latest winners - some of these announcements are quite delayed! All the winners have until noon next Wednesday to send me their mailing addresses before I select replacement winners. Thanks so much for participating!

Countess of Scandal by Laurel McKee

Tracey D (booklover0226) - confirmed
Maureen (mce1011) - confirmed
Christine (womackcm) - confirmed
Luvdaylilies -confirmed
Nightdweller20 (jaam121388)


Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani

cyeates - confirmed
Aimala127 - confirmed
APSkap - confirmed


The Crazy School by Cornelia Read

Benita (bgcchs) - confirmed
zenrei57 - confirmed
Bani (wakeupangel) - confirmed


The 3-Day Cleanse by Zoe Sakoutis and Erica Huss

enyl - confirmed
misusedinnocence - confirmed
mannasweeps - confirmed
miss.savetheplanet
rhoneygtn - confirmed


The Wives of Henry Oades by Joanna Moran

Daphne R. - confirmed


The Undervalued Self by Elaine Aron

catss99 - confirmed
cheznishilia - confirmed
nancyecdavis - confirmed


Jordan by Susan Kearney

gcwhiskas - confirmed
pbclark - confirmed
theluckyladybug - confirmed
dawnpnr
romancebookaddict - confirmed


Montana Legacy by R.C. Ryan

usignolc - confirmed
alliwantandmorebooks - confirmed
bookofsecrets - confirmed
castings - confirmed
magenta 2 red - confirmed


A huge thank you to TLC Book Tours and Hatchette Book Group for generously sponsoring these book giveaways!

Book Giveaway: Admission by Jean Hanff Korelitz

Valerie and Hatchette Book Group are generously sponsoring a giveaway of Admission by Jean Hanff Korelitz.


About the Book:
"Admissions. Admission. Aren't there two sides to the word? And two opposing sides...It's what we let in, but it's also what we let out."

For years, 38-year-old Portia Nathan has avoided the past, hiding behind her busy (and sometimes punishing) career as a Princeton University admissions officer and her dependable domestic life. Her reluctance to confront the truth is suddenly overwhelmed by the resurfacing of a life-altering decision, and Portia is faced with an extraordinary test. Just as thousands of the nation's brightest students await her decision regarding their academic admission, so too must Portia decide whether to make her own ultimate admission.

Admission is at once a fascinating look at the complex college admissions process and an emotional examination of what happens when the secrets of the past return and shake a woman's life to its core.

About the Author:
Jean Hanff Korelitz was raised in New York City and graduated from Dartmouth College and Clare College, Cambridge. She is the author of the novels A Jury of Her Peers (1996), The Sabbathday River (1999), The White Rose (2005), and Admission (2009), as well as a children's novel Interference Powder (2003) and a book of poems, The Properties of Breath (1988).

She has contributed articles and essays to many magazines including Vogue, Real Simple, Newsweek, Reader's Digest, More and Travel and Leisure (Family) and the anthologies Modern Love and Because I Said So. She lives in Princeton, New Jersey with her husband, Princeton professor Paul Muldoon, and their children, and works full time as a writer and part time as a chauffeur (mom).

In 2006 and 2007 she worked for Princeton's Office of Admissions as an outside reader.

CONTEST DETAILS:

To enter, please share an anecdote about your own college admission process or about student life.
Rules:
1. Please include your email address, so that I can contact you if you win. No email address, no entry.
2. You must be a follower to join the contest.

The contest is limited to US and Canada only. No P.O. boxes. The contest ends at noon on April 30, 2010.

Thank you so much to Valerie and Hatchette Book Group for sponsoring this giveaway!

Book Blog Tour of R.C. Ryan's Montana Legacy

Welcome to the Book Blog Tour of R.C. Ryan's Montana Legacy! The first in her new series involving the McCord cousins, Montana Legacy introduces us to three complex and gorgeous heroes: Jesse, Zane and Wyatt.



Anna and Hatchette Books Group are sponsoring a giveaway of 5 copies of Montana Legacy - so, head over to here to sign up.



I'd previously reviewed Montana Legacy, and want to share the review with those of you who might not have caught it the first time.

Review:
The McCord cousins were closer than brothers when they lived on their grandfather's sprawling cattle ranch in Montana. It was a working ranch and prosperous but the family's legacy also included a long lost treasure in buried gold. This treasure which was generally regarded as the McCord curse because of the obsession that fell on the different generations - each trying to find what had long been buried and lost.

The day of Gabriel McCord's funeral was painful for everyone, but particularly hard on Jesse McCord. Of the three grandchildren, he was the one who had stayed on the ranch with his grandfather. Aside from the deep loss, he dreaded having to deal with his cousin who never bothered to keep in contact or drop in to visit them over the years. There was his cousin Zane McCord who moved to California when he was a child. Zane stayed out West and became a famous actor in his own right, but never once reached out or came back to visit. Then there was Wyatt, whose parents took him traveling. Even after the accident that killed them, Wyatt continued on his travels - working on ships, all sorts of jobs in far off places - but never headed home. As Jesse, Wyatt and Zane find themselves living on the ranch together, they slowly adjust to their shared responsibilities and rediscover their old friendships. The friendship between the cousins is one of the interesting subplots of Montana Legacy. It's clear that R.C. Ryan intends to give each of the cousins their own fleshed out stories - their banter and camaraderie certainly adds to the fun of Montana Legacy.

The novel centers on Jesse and Amy Parrish, his longtime and long lost love. It's clear from the start that they're both still attracted to each other and that they still care about one another, but it isn't until the very end of the novel that we learn what has kept Jesse and Amy apart for years. Montana Legacy has twists and turns, a mystery and danger - as well as a fun, satisfying romance.

ISBN-10: 0446548618 - Mass Market Paperback $6.99
Publisher: Forever; 1 edition (March 1, 2010), 304 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.

About the Author, courtesy of the publisher:
New York Times bestselling author R.C. Ryan has written more than ninety fiction novels, both contemporary and historical. Quite an accomplishment for someone who, after her fifth child started school, gave herself the gift of an hour a day to follow her dream to become a writer.
The Lost, an anthology of stories by J.D. Robb, Mary Blayney, Patricia Gaffney, and R.C. Ryan writing as Ruth Ryan Langan was published in Fall 2009. Ms. Ryan’s story, “The Legacy,” is an exciting tale of intrigue and other-worldly adventure.

In a career spanning more than twenty years, Ms. Ryan has given dozens of radio, television, and print interviews across the country and Canada, and has been quoted in such diverse publications as the Wall Street Journal and Cosmopolitan. She has also appeared on CNN News, as well as Good Morning America. Learn more at R.C. Ryan's website at http://www.ryanlangan.com/about.html

Listen to an interview with R.C. Ryan at Blog Talk Radio at
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/grandcentralpub/2010/03/10/interview-w-rc-ryan-author-of-montana-legacy

Want your own copy? Head over to the giveaway on Starting Fresh and the other sites on the Montana Legacy blog tour.

Participating Sites:
http://www.masoncanyon.blogspot.com Feature, Giveaway, Guest Post 3/22/2010
http://reesspace.blogspot.com Feature, Review, Giveaway 3/22/2010
http://reesspace.blogspot.com Feature, Review, Giveaway 3/22/2010
http://rannthisthat.blogspot.com Review 3/22/2010
http://zestynachos.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway 3/22/2010
http://justanothernewblog.blogspot.com Giveaway 3/22/2010
http://chaoticbookobbsession.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway, Q&A 3/23/2010
http://www.mybookaddictionandmore.wordpress.com Feature, Review, Giveaway 3/24/2010
http://www.mybookaddictionandmore.wordpress.com Feature, Review, Giveaway 3/24/2010
http://myfoolishwisdom.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway, Q&A 3/24/2010
http://www.mgpblog.com Review, Giveaway 3/25/2010
www.cherylsbooknook.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway 3/25/2010
http://www.kballard87.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway 3/25/2010
www.justshortofcrazy.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway 3/28/2010
http://booksandneedlepoint.blogspot.com Feature, Review, Giveaway 3/28/2010
http://www.saveyspender.com Review, Giveaway 3/29/2010
http://www.takingtimeformommy.com Review, Giveaway 3/29/2010
http://triciareads.blogspot.com Feature, Giveaway 3/31/2010
http://brokenteepee.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway 4/1/2010
Marta's Meanderings Feature, Review 4/1/2010
http://carolsnotebook.wordpress.com Review, Giveaway 4/1/2010
http://thebooktree.blogspot.com Feature, Giveaway 4/1/2010
http://www.startingfresh-gaby317.blogspot.com/ Review, Giveaway 4/2/2010
http://www.renees-reads.blogspot.com/ Review, Giveaway 4/2/2010
http://stacievaughansblog.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway 4/2/2010

Friday 56: Week 39










Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions
on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
*
Post a link along with your post back to this blog and to Storytime with Tonya and Friends at http://storytimewithtonya.blogspot.com/
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.


Here's mine from a book on my review list for March, Scarlet Lion by Elizabeth Chadwick:

Baldwin glanced towards de Braose's large striped pavilion, its interior luminous with lanterns and loud with the noise of hearty masculine camaraderie. "John's going to have to offer a lot to make Aymer of Angouleme sell his virtue."

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Book Giveaway: FOXY by Pam Grier

Anna and Hatchette Book Group are generously sponsoring a giveaway of 3 copies of Foxy by Pam Grier!



About the Book:
Beautiful, bold, and bad, Pam Grier burst onto the movie scene in the 1970s, setting the screen on fire and forever changing the country's view of African American actresses. With a killer attitude and body to match, Grier became the ultimate fantasy of men everywhere. But she quickly proved that she was more than just a desirable film goddess. She had the brains, courage, and tenacity to sustain a career that would span more than 30 years. In FOXY, she chronicles the good, bad, and steamy highlights in her life and career.

About the Author:
Pam Grier started her career in the early 1970s, starring in a string of moderately successful women-in-prison films and blaxploitation films, and has generally remained in the public eye, starring in movies such as Coffy, Foxy Brown, and Jackie Brown.

CONTEST DETAILS:

To enter please tell us which new release books you're looking forward to reading this year.

Rules:
1. Please include your email address, so that I can contact you if you win. No email address, no entry.
2. You must be a follower to join the contest.

The contest is limited to US and Canada only. No P.O. boxes. The contest ends at noon on April 30, 2010.

Thanks so much, Anna and Hatchette Book Group for generously sponsoring this giveaway!

Book Giveaway: Iron Man 2 by Alexander Irvine

Anna and Hatchette Book Group are generously sponsoring this giveaway of 5 copies of Alexander Irvine's Iron Man 2.




About the Book:
"I am Iron Man." With those words, billionaire industrialist Tony Stark revealed his secret identity. Now a famous high-tech superhero, he uses his powers to protect mankind. Yet things are not going well for Tony Stark. The U.S. military demands control of the most powerful weapon on earth--the Iron Man suit. His beautiful new assistant has a strange, mysterious agenda while his best friend, Rhodey, has betrayed him. And Tony is hunted by a vengeful Russian criminal armed with a lethal technology that may be stronger than Tony's suit. But even as he fights his demons, the hero faces his greatest threat--one that no armor can defend against . . .

About the Author:

Alexander Irvine's most recent novels are Buyout and The Narrows. He is the author of nonfiction books including The Vertigo Encyclopedia and John Winchester's Journal, as well as comic series Daredevil Noir and Hellstorm, Son of Satan: Equinox. He teaches at the University of Maine. Find out more at http://alexanderirvine.net/.

CONTEST DETAILS:

To enter please share a YA book recommendation - please tell us the title, author, and why you recommend the book.

Rules:
1. Please include your email address, so that I can contact you if you win. No email address, no entry.
2. You must be a follower to join the contest.

The contest is limited to US and Canada only. No P.O. boxes. The contest ends at noon on April 30, 2010.

Thank you so much to Anna and Hatchette Book Group for sponsoring this giveaway!

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Book Giveaway: Scott Turow's Presumed Innocent

I'm very excited - Valerie and Hatchette Book Group are sponsoring a giveaway of Scott Turow's legal thriller, Presumed Innocent to celebrate the expected release of Presumed Innocent's sequel Innocent on May 4, 2010.



About the Book, courtesy of the publisher:
Now available in trade paperback, "Presumed Innocent" brings to life our worst nightmare: that of an ordinary citizen facing conviction for the most terrible of crimes. Prosecutor Rusty Sabich is transformed from accuser to accused when he is handed an explosive case--that of the brutal murder of a woman who happens to be his former lover.

About Author

Scott Turow is a writer and attorney. He is the author of seven best-selling novels: Presumed Innocent (1987), The Burden of Proof (1990), Pleading Guilty (1993), The Laws of Our Fathers (1996), Personal Injuries (1999), Reversible Errors (2002) and Ordinary Heroes (2005). A novella, Limitations, was published as a paperback original in November 2006 by Picador following its serialization in The New York Times Magazine. His works of non-fiction include One L (1977) about his experience as a law student, and Ultimate Punishment (2003), a reflection on the death penalty.

Audio and Video



Intrigued? Listen to an excerpt on the Hatchette site.

About the Author:
Scott Turow is a writer and attorney. He is the author of seven best-selling novels: Presumed Innocent (1987), The Burden of Proof (1990), Pleading Guilty (1993), The Laws of Our Fathers (1996), Personal Injuries (1999), Reversible Errors (2002) and Ordinary Heroes (2005). A novella, Limitations, was published as a paperback original in November 2006 by Picador following its serialization in The New York Times Magazine. His works of non-fiction include One L (1977) about his experience as a law student, and Ultimate Punishment (2003), a reflection on the death penalty. Read more on Scott Turow's website.

CONTEST DETAILS:

To enter please recommend a legal thriller that you thoroughly enjoyed. Please name the book, author and why you chose the book.

Rules:
1. Please include your email address, so that I can contact you if you win. No email address, no entry.
2. You must be a follower to join the contest.

The contest is limited to US and Canada only. No P.O. boxes. The contest ends at noon on April 30, 2010.

Book Review of Love in Mid Air by Kim Wright

Love in Mid Air
The blurb:
A chance encounter with a stranger in an airplane sends Elyse Bearden into an emotional tailspin. Suddenly, Elyse is willing to risk everything: her safe but stale marriage, her seemingly perfect life in an affluent Southern suburb, and her position in the church. As Elyse embarks on a risky affair, her longtime friend Kelly and the other women in their book club begin to question their own decisions about love, sex, marriage, and freedom. In the end it will take an extraordinary leap of faith for Elyse to find -- and follow -- her own path to happiness.

Review:
I enjoyed Love In Mid Air. Elyse is the lead character and although her failing marriage to Phil and her love affair with Gerry are critical and these relationships move the action forward, Elyse's friendship with Kelly is just as significant to the novel. It's the camaraderie and friendship of the different women in the book club, despite their small differences and occasional rivalries that made the characters come alive for me.

It's the dialogue that sets Love In Mid Air apart. Elyse's internal dialogues are a delight - the biting wit had me shaking my head and smiling at the same time. The book deals with infidelity, love, happiness, and the sacrifices we each make in our journeys towards self fulfillment.

ISBN-10: 0446540447 - Hardcover
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (March 29, 2010), 320 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.

About the Author, courtesy of the publisher:
Kim Wright has been writing about travel, food, and wine for more than 25 years and is a two-time recipient of the Lowell Thomas Award for Travel Writing. Learn more on Kim Wright's site at http://loveinmidair.com/home/

Thank you so much to Miriam and Hatchette Book Group for this review opportunity!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Book Blog Tour of Tempt Me If You Can by Janet Chapman

Tempt Me If You Can (Sinclair Brothers, #2)

The blurb:
When an anonymous letter stuns shipping magnate and confirmed bachelor Ben Sinclair with the news that he has a teenage son, he's determined to make good on the past. But Emma Sands doesn't trust him. The beautiful, fiery blonde has raised her nephew in the peaceful woods of Maine since he was five, and just because fifteen-year-old Michael is the spitting image of his tall, handsome father doesn't give Ben the right to march in and change their lives forever. Or so she thinks, until his return mysteriously unearths a dangerous small-town secret. With Michael's help, Ben will do whatever it takes to prove to fiercely independent Emma that he can be the fearless protector she never knew she wanted . . . . and the passionate lover that she always thought she could resist.

Review:
Janet Chapman's Tempt Me If You Can is a fun contemporary romance!

Ben Sinclair, the romantic lead, is likable from the start. Upon discovering that he has an illegitimate son, his first reaction is to investigate and then to acknowledge the son. He travels to Maine, treading carefully, and slowly reveals his identity - he takes care not to disrupt his son's life. Gorgeous, considerate, filthy rich, and a respected force in the business world, it's easy to fall in love with Ben Sinclair! Meanwhile, Emma Sands is equally endearing - she takes on her older sister's obligations and raises her nephew as her own. Emma is independent, intelligent, protective, beautiful and level headed. We are rooting for Emma and Ben from the very start!

As Emma, Ben, and Ben's young son Michael slowly get to know each other, they come across a dangerous secret. Their group approach to the problem draw you in to the action - and make this book a fun, romantic read! I very much enjoyed Tempt Me If You Can. It'll provide a nice, fun escape on a rainy evening or a day at the beach!

ISBN-10: 1416595449 - Mass Market Paperback $7.99
Publisher: Pocket Star; Original edition (February 23, 2010), 368 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.

About the Author, courtesy of the publisher:
Janet Chapman is a native of rural central Maine, where she lives in a cozy log cabin on a lake with her husband. Three cats and a stray young bull moose keep them company. The winner of the Pearl Award and a two-time finalist for the Romance Writers of America's RITA Award, she is the author of six contemporary romance novels, including The Man Must Marry, as well as the enchanting Highlander time-travel series and a sexy new paranormal romance series, both set in modern-day Maine. Visit her website at www.janetchapman.com

Thank you so much to Sarah and PocketBooks for this review opportunity!

Monday, March 29, 2010

Book Review of Pearl of China by Anchee Min

Anchee Min's recent novel, Pearl of China, comes out today! I was fortunate to receive a review copy from Leila and Bloomsbury.

Pearl of China: A Novel
The blurb:
In the small southern China town of Chin-kiang, in the last days of the nineteenth century, two young girls bump heads and become thick as thieves. Willow is the only child of a destitute family. Pearl is the headstrong daughter of zealous Christian missionaries. She will grow up to become Pearl S. Buck, the Nobel Prize-winning writer and activist, but for now she is just a girl embarrassed by her blonde hair and enchanted by her new Chinese friend.

Moving out into the world together, the two enter the intellectual fray, confide their beliefs and dreams, and experience love and motherhood. But these are times of great tumult. When a bloody civil war erupts, Pearl is forced to flee the country ahead of angry mobs. Willow remains loyal to her exiled friend, but under Mao's repressive new regime, her "imperialist" ties jeopardize both her husband's career and her own safety. Worlds apart, the women's lives remain entwined.

Ambitious and deeply moving, Anchee Min's stunning novel Pearl of China celebrates an incredible friendship and brings new color to the life of Pearl S. Buck, a woman whose unwavering lover for the country of her youth eventually led her to be hailed as a national heroine in China.

Review:
I was very excited at the chance to review Anchee Min's Pearl of China. I have an uncle who would carefully select books for me. When I was in fifth grade, he introduced me to Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth. The Good Earth was the first grown up book that I read; the story was so absorbing and sad that it stayed with me for a long time. It was The Good Earth that sparked my interest in China.

In Pearl of China, Anchee Min introduces Pearl S. Buck at a young age. We meet Pearl as a young girl as she befriends Willow, a young Chinese girl. Pearl Sydenstricker is the daughter of American missionaries stationed in Chin-kiang, a small town south of the Yangtze River. The villagers are not interested in converting but they're drawn to the Sydenstrickers because of the food, medicine and music that they offer.

Pearl and Willow's friendship gets off on a rocky start but they quickly become inseparable. Curious, active, and high spirited girls, Pearl and Willow get into all sorts of adventures. They lived under the Qing Dynasty and survived the Boxer Rebellion in relative innocence until the Sydenstrickers were forced to retreat to Shanghai. After this separation and by the time that they're 14, Pearl and Willow's lives take very different directions. Pearl is in a missionary middle school in Shanghai while Willow is engaged to a wealthy older man.

Though the friends live very different lives, they make a point of seeing each other and remain very close friends. This friendship continues even after Pearl moves to the United States for college. When Pearl and her husband return to China years later, Pearl confides the details of her life to Willow. Willow shares her own life's disappointments and the women continue to find strength in their friendship - even years later when Pearl is forced to leave China and their letters are censored.

Violence explodes in China and the country undergoes momentous changes from the Japanese occupation to Nationalist control to the eventual victory of Mao and the Communist Party. Like everyone around them, Pearl and Willow find their lives changed. Pearl moves to the United States and she is recognized worldwide for her writing with the Pulitzer and the Nobel Prize for Literature. Willow's husband becomes one of Mao's trusted advisers but as her friendship remains a source of strength it also becomes a political liability for Willow.

Pearl of China is as much a story of loyalty and friendship in historic times as it is the story of Pearl S. Buck as a woman of China and a dedicated and gifted writer. I found Pearl of China moving and inspiring - a glimpse into the life of one of the most interesting people of the 20th century.

ISBN-10: 1596916974 - Hardcover $24.00
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA; 1 edition (March 30, 2010), 288 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.

About the Author, courtesy of Amazon:
Anchee Min was born in Shanghai in 1957. During the Cultural Revolution, she was ordered to denounce Pearl S. Buck as an American imperialist. At seventeen she was sent to a labor collective, where a talent scout for Madame Mao's Shanghai Film Studio recruited her to work as a movie actress in propoganda films. She came to the United States in 1984 with the help of actress Joan Chen. Her memoir, Red Azalea, was named one of the New York Times Notable Books of 1994 and was an international bestseller, with rights sold in twenty countries. Her novels Becoming Madame Mao and Empress Orchid were published to critical acclaim and were national bestsellers. Her two other novels, Katherine and Wild Ginger, were published to wonderful reviews and impressive foreign sales. Learn more on Anchee Min's website at http://www.ancheemin.com/

Anchee Min's is starting her national tour on April 5. Check out if she's coming to your town here. Here's a short list of events - but there are many more on her website.

4/19 - Washington D.C.: Politics & Prose - reading at 7 pm
4/20 - Philadelphia, PA: Philadelphia Free Library - a reading at 7:30 pm
4/21 - Boston, MA: Boston Public Library - a reading at 6 pm
4/22 - New York, NY: Barnes & Noble on the Upper West Side - a reading at 7 pm
4/23 - New York, NY: Asian American Writers' Workshop - luncheon at 12 noon
4/24-4/25 - Los Angeles, CA: LA Times Festival of Books
4/26 - Iowa City, IA: Prairie Lights - a reading at 5 pm
4/27 - Chicago, IL: Bookstall at Chestnut Court - a reading at 7 pm
4/28 - Denver, CO: Tattered Cover - a reading at 7:30 pm
4/29 - Minneapolis, MN: Minneapolis Central Library at 7 pm
5/5 - Austin, TX: Bookpeople - a reading at 7 pm
5/6 - 5/7 - Houston, TX: Asia Society

Thank you so much Leila and Bloomsbury for this review opportunity!
CymLowell

Hatchette Audio Book Giveaway: The Art of Choosing: The Subtext of Life by Sheena Iyengar

Thanks to Anna and Hatchette Book Group, we are giving away 3 copies of The Art of Choosing: The Subtext of Life by Sheena Iyengar and read by Orlagh Cassidy.



About the Book:
Every day we make choices. Coke or Pepsi? Save or spend? Stay or go? Whether mundane or life-altering, these choices define us and shape our lives. Sheena Iyengar asks the difficult questions about how and why we choose: Is the desire for choice innate or bound by culture? Why do we sometimes choose against our best interests? How much control do we really have over what we choose? Sheena Iyengar's award-winning research reveals that the answers are surprising and profound. In our world of shifting political and cultural forces, technological revolution, and interconnected commerce, our decisions have far-reaching consequences.

About the Author, courtesy of the publisher:
Sheena Iyengar's groundbreaking research on choice has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the National Security Education Program, as well as by private institutions. In 2001, she received the Presidential Early Career Award and in 2005 she was invited to serve as a fellow at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study. She holds degrees from UPenn, The Wharton School of Business, and Stanford University (from which she also received the prestigious Best Dissertation Award in 1998, for her work "Choice and its Discontents.") She is a professor at Columbia University.

Iyengar's work is regularly cited in the media, in periodicals as diverse as Fortune and Time magazines, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, as well as on National Public Radio and in books such as Blink by Malcolm Gladwell and The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz. She lives in New York City.

Listen to an excerpt on the Hatchette site.

CONTEST DETAILS:

To enter please just share why you'd like to win this book.

Rules:
1. Please include your email address, so that I can contact you if you win. No email address, no entry.
2. You must be a follower to join the contest.

The contest is limited to US and Canada only. No P.O. boxes. The contest ends at noon on April 30, 2010.

Thank you so much, Anna and Hatchette Book Group for generously sponsoring this giveaway!

Hatchette Audio Book Giveaway: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

Thanks to Anna and Hatchette Book Group, we are giving away 3 unabridged audio books of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith.




About the Book:
Indiana, 1818
. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother's bedside. She's been stricken with something the old-timers call "Milk Sickness."

"My baby boy..." she whispers before dying.

Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire.

When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, "henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose..." Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.

Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time-all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.

Watch Honest Abe in action here: http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/authors_ABLVH.aspx

About the Author, courtesy of the publisher:
Seth Grahame-Smith is a film and television writer/producer, semi-frequent blogger, and bestselling author. His first novel, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, debuted at #3 on the New York Times bestseller list. Since its release in April 2009, it's sold over a million copies and been translated into 20 languages. Seth is also the Co-Creator/Executive Producer of the upcoming MTV comedy series, "The Hard Times of RJ Berger." He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and son.

Intrigued? Read an excerpt here. Or listen to an excerpt on the Hatchette site.
Sign up for the Undead Book Club or become a fan on Facebook.

Do you want your own copy? Sign up below!


CONTEST DETAILS:

To enter please just share why you'd like to win this book.

Rules:
1. Please include your email address, so that I can contact you if you win. No email address, no entry.
2. You must be a follower to join the contest.

The contest is limited to US and Canada only. No P.O. boxes. The contest ends at noon on April 30, 2010.

Thank you so much, Anna and Hatchette Book Group for sponsoring this giveaway!

Book Giveaway: The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession by David Grann

I'm excited to announce that Judy and DoubleDay are sponsoring this giveaway of 2 copies of David Grann's The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness and Obsession.

The Devil & Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness & Obsession
About the Book:
The world's most renowned Sherlock Holmes scholar, hot on the trail of a priceless cache of long-lost Arthur Conan Doyle papers is found garroted. Was he murdered?

A serial French importer pretends to be a missing American boy and is taken in by the boy's real family. Is he the perfect conman, or is he the one being conned?

In Texas a father is about to be executed for setting a fire that killed his children. But could he be innocent?

A Polish detective, while investigating a brutal slaying, stumbles upon a postmodern novel by a darling of the avant-garde. Does this book hold the key to solving the crime?

Sherlock Holmes once said that "life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent." In that same spirit of curiosity and discovery, David Grann sets out to solve a dozen real-life mysteries in these hypnotic accounts. Whether he is reporting on the infiltration of U.S. prisons by the murderous Aryan Brotherhood, riding a cyclone-tossed skiff with a scientist in search of elusive giant squid, or descending into the secret world of sandhogs hundreds of feet below New York City, Grann explores the nature of obsession and those caught in its grip. The unforgettable characters display the full power, and ofthe the perversity, of the human spirit. The Devil and Sherlock Holmes is a gripping and supremely entertaining work -- a mosiac of ambition, deception, passion, and folly.

ISBN-10: 0385517920 - Hardcover $26.95
Publisher: Doubleday (March 9, 2010), 352 pages.

About the Author, courtesy of the publisher:
David Grann is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of the bestselling The Lost City of Z, which has been translated into more than 20 languages. His stories have appeared in many best American writing anthologies, and he has written for the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and the Republic.


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Thank you so much to Judy and to DoubleDay for sponsoring this giveaway!