Authors and Publishers, I am happy to receive ARCs and published children's, middle grade, and YA books for review. When I finish it, I will review it. If you need the review posted in a certain time period, please let me know and I will move it to the top of the stack. Please note: my reviews are honest, but they are my opinion. If you don't want that, please don't ask. Email Me for reviews.
I received a request to review a new book for a blog tour this week, titled, Private Midnight by Kris Saknussemm, from Phenix & Phenix. I have reviewed titles for them before and this looked like another good one. I started with it for the read-a-thon, got into it, and then put it down for a lighter read and decided to pick it up later. Well, later came, but I just couldn't get into it. I usually try to finish a book that I've agreed to review, but this time I just couldn't. I teach my students that there are times when it's okay to abandon a book. I guess this was one of those times for me. I'm not real sure what it is about the book that I didn't like, or couldn't get over, but I'm sure that many of you would like the book, so I asked if there was anything else I could do on the blog tour, besides review the book. I didn't want to let Phenix & Phenix down because we have a good working relationship and I enjoy most of their books. That being said, I'm going to share some things about the book with you, and then you can decide whether or not it's for you.
About the Book: By the author of Zanesville, a seductive story of grit, gunplay, vampirism, and a bit of bondage.
Detective Birch Ritter is a man on the edge-of himself. His past is filled with secrets, shadows, guilt, and ghosts. Then a dubious police buddy he hasn't seen in a year introduces him to a mysterious woman who says her business is shadows. What she knows about what lies between the darkness and the light inside men is more than Ritter may want to find out, and much more than he can resist learning. It's said that to try to forget is to try to conceal, and concealing evidence is a crime. But maybe revelation is another kind of crime-against nature.
Kris Saknussemm, the widely acclaimed author of the sci-fi smash Zanesville, now delves into another genre, and another world-a world where even the sunlight is shadowy and where deviancy is the norm. Private Midnight is a journey into the seedy, sexy, underbelly of life-crime noir for a new generation.
About the Book: Orange Beach, Alabama is a simple town filled with simple people. But like all humans on the planet, the good folks of Orange Beach have their share of problems - marriages teetering on the brink of divorce, young adults giving up on life, business people on the verge of bankruptcy, as well as the many other obstacles that life seems to dish out to the masses.
Fortunately, when things look the darkest - a mysterious man named Jones has a miraculous way of showing up. An elderly man with white hair, of indiscriminate age and race, wearing blue jeans, a white T-shirt and leather flip flops carrying a battered old suitcase, Jones is a unique soul. Communicating what he calls "a little perspective," Jones explains that he has been given a gift of noticing things that others miss. "Your time on this earth is a gift to be used wisely," he says. "Don't squander your words or your thoughts. Consider even the simplest action you take, for your lives matter beyond measure…and they matter forever."
Jones speaks to that part in everyone that is yearning to understand why things happen and what we can do about it.
My Review: This was such an inspirational little book! I say little because it is only 156 pages, but in those pages, there are so many simple, yet profound truths. Andy Andrews takes one man, Jones, and puts him in the middle of others' lives. He pops in and out of those people's lives and reveals to them things that help them become a better person. He teaches them to "notice" what's around them, to "notice" things in other people, and to "notice" things about themselves.
What he tries to get each of them to do is to have a different perspective about things. Take for example, Andy's story. Jones and Andy are having lunch. They are under the pier eating vienna sausages and sardines. Jones asks Andy what he's eating and where. "Okay. I am eating sardines and Vienna sausages. In the sand." Jones says, "Incidentally, you ate sardines and Vienna sausages in the sand. I dined on surf and turf with an ocean view. It's all about perspective."
Some of the other messages that come from this book are the 4 ways that people communicate love, the difference between a mistake and a choice, focusing on things that can be controlled, and others. Jones is like a modern day angel walking into people's lives, helping them to change something about themselves or their life, and then walking out mysteriously. He is always there when least expected and then gone when he needs to move on. Never aging, he is known by many.
I really enjoyed this book. I read it in one evening and will reread it to take more time for the meaning to really sink in. It is also a book I will be gifting to others, not because I think they need some perspective, but because it is a great story with wonderful meaning. I am so glad that I chose to take on The Noticer and The Noticer Project this month. Both have truly been a blessing in my life!
This would be a great book for a book club as there is a Reader's Guide at the end with discussion questions. These are also good questions for doing some personal reflection.
They were gracious enough to send me 2 hardback copies of this wonderful book to giveaway to 2 of my readers. For your chance to win one, please visit The Noticer Project and tell me one thing that you learned. To earn extra entries, become a new follower or tell me that you already follow this blog (+1), follow me on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway (+2), blog about this giveaway (+3), or visit one of the other blogs on the tour and let me know which one you visited and something they said. (+5).
This giveaway is open to US and Canada addresses only. It begins today and will run for 1 week, ending at midnight on Monday, May 4. The winners will be drawn randomly, emailed, and posted on this blog on Tuesday, May 5. The winners will have 48 to contact me with their mailing information.
Last week I received an email from Amy at Phenix Publicity about participating in The Noticer Project. You can bet I was intrigued! I have received requests to do book reviews for Phenix, but this was different, I could tell. There's a book to review, so how can it be different? I mean, that's what this blog's about, right, books? You're right, but there's more to this than just a book and a review. One, I don't even have the book yet, so why am I posting? Two, the blog tour is not until the end of the month, so what's going on? It's a teaser, to get you interested, so you'll participate. Participate in what? Well, let me introduce you to The Noticer Project. Here is the press release, that explains it much better than I ever could.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Noticer Project: Who will you notice?
Movement invites people everywhere to recognize five inspirational people in their lives
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - In the current climate of economic strife and social strain, it has become more important than ever for people to take a step back and realize just how fortunate they are. On April 7, 2009, a viral grassroots movement called The Noticer Project (www.TheNoticerProject.com) will answer the need for a little hope and a fresh dose of perspective by calling on people everywhere to "notice" the five most influential people in their lives. What better way to count our blessings than by recognizing the special people who inspire and encourage us every day?
Based on the central message in The Noticer (Thomas Nelson | April 28, 2009 | 978-0-7852-2921-1 | Hardcover |$17.99) by bestselling author Andy Andrews, The Noticer Project is meant to encourage people to step outside their busy schedules to take notice of five special people who have made a positive impact on their lives. As a result, participants in The Noticer Project not only acknowledge the contributions of other people on their lives, but they also gain a fresh perspective on their own journey.
"In times like these, it's important not to get wrapped up in what we don't have or what we're lacking, but instead to focus on the simple things in life that give us hope," says Andrews, an internationally renowned speaker and author of The Traveler's Gift. "It is most often our friends, family, teachers, spiritual leaders and heroes who truly inspire us. With The Noticer Project, I want to encourage folks everywhere to give the gift of noticing someone today, and gain perspective on their own lives in the process."
Andrews says noticing five people can be as private (just a letter or email) or as public (posting to a Facebook page or joining The Noticer Project Facebook group) as participants choose. Whether thanking a high school English teacher in an email for the motivation to pursue the dream of writing, or posting a note on Facebook recognizing Martin Luther King for his historic civil rights legacy, participants in The Noticer Project utilize the "pay it forward" concept to offer hope and encouragement through the simple act of recognizing someone significant.
Andrews' new book, The Noticer combines the author's true life story, fiction and allegory to reveal the healing power of perspective. It follows "Jones," a mysterious older man who enters into the lives of people in the midst of crisis - on the brink of divorce, on the verge of financial ruin, about to give up on life - to impart sage-like wisdom on how to change their view of the world to move past life's biggest challenges.
"When we notice things about ourselves and other people that allow us all to regroup, take a breath, and begin our lives again, the best is surely yet to come," writes Andrews in The Noticer.
Andrews, whose combined works have sold millions of copies worldwide, resides in Orange Beach, Ala., with his wife and two sons. His popular book The Traveler's Gift is an international bestseller with more than a million copies sold. It was an ABC "Good Morning America" book-of-the month selection, the subject of a two-hour PBS special and landed spots on The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. Learn more about The Noticer Project and The Noticer at www.TheNoticerProject.com.
Are you teased? Well, come back tomorrow to see my public post about the 5 people I am going to "notice." Who will you notice? What will you do to let them know? I encourage you to join in with me tomorrow as I take on this project with many other people. If you are choosing to participate, let me know in the comments, then come back tomorrow and in the comments of that post, leave the link to your post or just a description of what you did to participate. In a world where so many notice the negative, let's turn it around and choose to notice the positive. Are you with me?
