Blog Tour - A Vampire is Coming to Dinner

I apologize for missing my original post date last week, but I was sick and just didn't get anything blog related done.  This week is much better, and I appreciate Trish and TLC Book Tours for allowing me to reschedule this review.  Here is one for Halloween that is sure to please even the little ones!

Title:  A Vampire is Coming to Dinner!

Author:  Pamela Jane

Illustrator:  Pedro Rodriguez

Review Copy Provided by:  Price Stern Sloan

About the Book:  Read along as the narrator of this story comes up with some very practical rules for dealing with a vampire. But rules are meant to be broken, aren’t they? From feeding the vampire garlic to filling the house with mirrors, the narrator is doing just that! With ten full-page gatefolds and a pop at the end of the book, kids will love seeing which rules are being followed and which aren’t!

My Review:  This is just the cutest book!  Why am I saying that about a Halloween book that is about vampires?  Well, because it's for children, even young ones, and they won't be scared by it.

This book is filled with the 10 rules for what to do when you have a vampire over for dinner.  Who does that?  Well, children with imaginations, that's who!  The illustrator makes this book come to life with fun pictures that go along with each rule.  Every page is a different rule and folds out to reveal what to do and not to do.  At the end, children will be surprised with a "pop-up."  Children and adults love pop-ups in books and I'm glad to see one used in this one.

Right now is the perfect time to share this book with the young children in your life.  Happy Halloween and have fun learning about what to do and not to do when a vampire comes to dinner!

If you'd like to read some other reviews, here are the previous stops on the tour:

Monday, October 4th: Jenn’s Bookshelves
Tuesday, October 5th: Write for a Reader
Wednesday, October 6th: Savvy Verse & Wit
Thursday, October 7th: There’s a Book
Monday, October 11th: The Book Faery Reviews

Blog Tour - Write the Right Words

I am happy to be hosting another TLC Book Tour today.  This post was originally supposed to go up last week, but apparently Blogger had issues with my scheduled posts...happened more than once.

Title:  Write the Right Words
Author:  Sandra E. Lamb
Review Copy Provided by St. Martin's Press

About the Book:  A Warm and Practical Guide to Writing the Perfect Card Message
Are you at a complete loss for words when a birthday card or congratulatory card circulates at the office?
When was the last time you mailed a “thinking of you” card to a faraway family member, just to say hello?
What should you write to a grieving friend? How do you comfort a colleague in a time of need?
Every greeting card needs a personal, handwritten message to make it complete. In this comprehensive, encouraging guide, journalist and lifestyle expert Sandra Lamb offers a wealth of advice, inspiration, and examples for anyone who wants to add the perfect personal touch to their card messages---as well as anyone who wants to know the etiquette of when and what to write.
Something as small as a heartfelt message on a greeting card can help remedy our hectic, e-mail--dependent lives. Lamb provides tips and sample messages for every occasion under the sun, both happy and somber (thank-you, birthday, birth and adoption, condolence), and explains the meanings of possibly unfamiliar holidays and religious rituals to aid in the writing of appropriate messages.

My Review:  This book is going to be my new best friend!  I attended a workshop this summer about relationships.  Yes, it was for school, but I can apply it to my personal life as well.  One of the things I committed to doing, afterwards, is staying connected with my family and friends through notes and cards.  Write the Right Words is going to enable me to do that even better!

The book is broken up into seven parts: Connecting Messages, Happy Day Messages, Holiday Messages, Social Grace Messages, Care and Concern Messages, Creating a New Relationship Messages, and Dates to Remember.  I especially enjoyed the part in Connecting Messages on Connecting with Greeting Cards.  It tells you how to make the most of your handwritten message:

"Your handwritten message supplies what's so often missing in our lives: the richness of shared humanity, and the sense that we are connected one to another."

I so agree with that quote.  We do so much of our correspondence through email, text messages, and social networks, that the art and sincerity of the handwritten note or card has been lost.  I love the specialness that a note or card brings to me, and I want to do that for others.

Another part of the book that I enjoyed was Care and Concern Messages.  There are times of sickness or loss, and I want to send a note, but I'm not sure at all what to say.  Well, that day is over.  For example, each type of care or concern gives message etiquette, quotes to use, and suggested messages.  Here's a suggested message to send someone who has been diagnosed with cancer:

"It's an ugly word-'cancer.' But I've never known you to shrink from a real challenge.  We're all betting on your resilience and fight.  In case we haven't said it recently: You're very important to us.  We care what happens to you. And we all want you around for a very long time to come.  We're sending you our best wishes and prayers."

Wow!  Talk about a great message.  I'm not sure I could have thought of that on my own.   The book is set up that way throughout.  Each part lists different types of notes/cards or occasions, and then gives the etiquette, quotes and suggested messages.  I love the way Ms. Lamb has organized the book.  It is very user friendly and gives you exactly what you need when you are at a loss for words.

This is definitely one that will be staying out in my office so that I can refer to it constantly.  If you are the card sending type, or desire to be, I hope you'll pick up this book.

Sandra Lamb has also written Personal Notes and How to Write It.  I will be checking these titles out as well!

The author has graciously offered up an autographed copy for one of my readers.  Just comment on this post and you're entered.  It's that easy!  Make sure to leave your email so I can contact you.  This contest will end a week from today, Tuesday August 17th at midnight.  The winner will be chosen at random and notified on the 18th.  Open to US/Canada only.

 

Blog Tour - Boys Lie

 Title:  Boys Lie: How Not to Get Played
Authors:   Belisa Vranich, Psy.D & Holly Eagleson
Review Copy Provided by:  HCI Teens

About the Book:  So consider this book the ultimate BS detector. In today's hookups without-heart society, this brutally honest guide reveals the most common lies boys tell and the truths behind them so you and your friends can separate the good guys from the bad.

'Everyone else is doing it.' 'I won't show anyone these pictures.' 'If we get pregnant, we could take care of it on our own.' Lies like these get lots of girls in trouble, especially when they cast aside their doubts and make poor choices in the heat of the moment. Written by psychologist Belisa Vranich and former Seventeen magazine editor Holly Eagleson, this provocative book sets the record straight with a 'cheat sheet' on what guys lie about, why they lie, and how you can respond. By learning how to react before embarrassing or volatile situations arise, you will be more confident and more likely to enjoy healthier, honest, and more fulfilling relationships.

Have You Ever Been Played?

Lie #8: I can't wear a condom.
Lie #2: Guys are built to cheat.
Lie #17: I'll love you forever.
Lie #3: You're a slut if you've had sex with lots of guys.

Yes, boys lie. But now you and your friends have the anti-get-played book.

 
My Review:  I thought this would be a fun book to review on my blog, since I read a lot of YA and have many young followers.  Not that I needed to read this as I'm happily married.  Maybe I should have had a book like this when I was dating though; it might have made things a little easier.

At first glance, Boys Lie sounds like boys are being stereo typed, that they all lie, but we all know that that is not the case.  We do however know that there are many boys out there that will say anything to get a girl to go out with him or do other things.  The authors know that not every boy lies, but they have written this book so that young girls have something to go by when boys try those lines.

I think that it's important for girls to know what they could experience when dating, and the authors of Boys Lie do a great job of spelling that out.  Psychologist Belisa Vranich and former Seventeen magazine editor Holly Eagleson are the perfect people to write this book together, because they seem to have a thumb on teens of today.  Unfortunately for us, there are guys out there who are not completely honest with girls, for one reason or another, so a book like this had to be written.

As I said before, this book was not for me, because I am married, but it is one that I feel has a place.  Dating teens, young adults, and partents of them should read this book.

The publisher has graciously offered a copy of Boys Lie to one of my readers.  Just leave a copy on this post, with your email address, and you will be entered.  You have until next Monday, Aug 2, at midnight, to enter.  The winner will be chosen randomly and emailed on Tuesday, Aug. 3.  Good luck!

Blog Tour - The Believers

Title:  The Believers
Author:  Zoe Heller
Review Copy Provided by:  Harper Perennial

About the Book:  When a stroke fells radical New York lawyer Joel Litvinoff, a secret is revealed that forces Audrey, his wife, to reexamine everything she believed about their forty-year marriage. In the meantime Joel's children are struggling with their own dilemmas and doubts. Disillusioned revolutionary Rosa has been drawn into the world of Orthodox Judaism. Karla, a devoted--and married--social worker hoping to adopt a child, is falling in love with the owner of a newspaper stand. Lenny, the ne'er-do-well, faces yet another relapse into heroin addiction. In the course of battling their own demons--and one another--the Litvinoffs must reexamine long-held articles of faith and decide what--if anything--they still believe in.

My Review:  This is the first book by Heller that I have been privileged to read.  I say privileged because I enjoyed the story she had to tell in The Believers.  Her characters are realistic and complex.  I became more and more drawn into their story the more I read.  If you want a story that's juicy, true to life with all its humor, dissappointments and entertainment, then read this one.

I will admit that I had a little trouble getting started with this one, as it is a change from what I normally read, but I kept at it and I'm so glad I did!

The story begins, with a prologue, in the 60's and then moves closer to the present, 2002, to tell the story of Audrey and Joel's 40 year marriage.  Everyone is forced to reexamine their lives with Joel; Audrey their marriage, and the children their own trials.  Isn't that what we all do at one time or another in our lives?  I just enjoyed how real Heller's writing is.  I will definitely be reading more of her work!!

Blog Tour: How to Save Your Own Life

Title: How to Save Your Own Life: 15 Lessons on Finding Hope in Unexpected Places
Author: Michael Gates Gill
Review Copy Provided by:  Gotham Books via TLC Book Tours

About the Book:  Michael Gill's lemons-to-lemonade memoir chronicled his transformative years working at Starbucks after losing his high-powered job, his marriage, and his health (he developed a brain tumor). In response to overwhelming requests from readers who wanted to know how they, too, could weather downturns, he has distilled his lessons into fifteen meaningful lessons, including:


A-Leap...With Faith: Sometimes it pays to leap without looking and say yes without thinking (Gill accepted the Starbucks job immediately, on a whim).

A-Let Yourself...Be Helped: Pride is even more paralyzing than fear.

A-Look...with Respect at Every Individual You See: Gill was raised to avoid eye contact with those who were different, cloistered in a privileged world. Now he realizes the potential in all who cross his daily path.

A-Lose...Your Watch (and Cell Phone and PDA ): Our obsession with productivity produces madness, not gladness.

Offering living proof that extraordinary happiness is found in ordinary moments, How to Save Your Own Life provides empowering words and hope for anyone facing a reversal of fortune. True fortune, Gill discovered, lies not in fate but in discovering the innate capacity we all possess to rescue ourselves.

My Review:  While I haven't completely finished reading this book, because there is so much to it, I am going to give you my thoughts so far for the tour today.  Michael Gates Gill wrote another book, How Starbucks Saved My Life, which I haven't read, but got great reviews.  This book, is full of new anecdotes from Michael about his father, author Brendan Gill, his mother, family and friends, and people he has met either at Starbucks or out on the road.

Most of us are so busy with life, that we take for granted the little things that are usually common sense.  Gill gives us some lessons to remember, like live each day like it's your last and listen to your own heart, for example.  These are two that are really sticking with me right now.  It's easy to read these, but hard to live.  Life gets hard for many, but everyone has it in them to better themselves.  Michael Gill is living proof of someone who loses everything in life: getting fired from a job with a six-figure salary, his family in a divorce, and possibly his life when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor.  If he can come back from that, and find inspiration, then anyone can.  His book is an inspiration to me, and one that I look forward to finishing and putting the lessons into practice in my own life.  I hope that you will consider picking it up!


Here are the other stops on the tour this week, if you'd like to visit them.
Monday, January 25th: Silver and Grace

Tuesday, January 26th: Inventing My Life
Wednesday, January 27th: Write for a Reader
Thursday, January 28th: Confessions of a Book a Holic
Friday, January 29th: Simply Forties