Monday, November 30, 2015

#REVIEW #GIVEAWAY AND #BLOGTOUR "The Hundred Gifts" by Jennifer Scott!


Description:
From the national bestselling author of The Sister Season, The Accidental Book Club and Second Chance Friends shares a new novel about a woman who discovers the spirit of the season is truly in the giving....
Jennifer Scott, the author of The Sister Season, The Accidental Book Club, and Second Chance Friends returns with her particular brand of women’s fiction, this time centered on a holiday theme with THE HUNDRED GIFTS (NAL Accent; October 27, 2015), again tackling deep and complicated issues of love, loss, family, and friendship.
With the holidays around the corner, empty-nester Bren Epperson realizes that for the first time in decades, she has no large family to cook for, no celebration to create.  To fill the void, she starts teaching a holiday cooking class, and it’s a huge success—until Virginia Mash, the old lady who lives in the upstairs apartment above the classroom, bursts into her class complaining about the interruption.  Rather than retaliate, Bren suggests that the class shower Virginia with kindness—and give her one hundred gifts.  Together, they embark on a plan to lift the old woman’s heart.  Along the way, amidst the knitting and the making and the baking, they discover  that family extends far beyond blood, the best gifts can’t be bought, and that family celebrations can be reborn and new traditions established.
A touching story that arrives just in time for the end of the year, a time of reflection as we prepare for the new year ahead, THE HUNDRED GIFTS captures the true spirit of the holiday season.

My Take:
4 Stars!
Wow! I could relate to a lot in this book! The age of the main character, Bren. I could relate to everything about her and how she felt about her kids, and how her kids made her feel, her husband, and I could go on and on. Being the same age and being able to relate to the character so well, well . . . I enjoyed this one.
Bren’s friends talked her into teaching a cooking class, and she was very busy with that, yet stressing, too, while trying to get every recipe just right. Her time is spent with that right now. In the back of her mind she thought about her children. Bren is an empty nester, but not ‘just’ an empty nester, her daughter lived far away on the opposite side of the world, literally, in Thailand,  and her son, well, she never really knew where he was until Bren was talking to her daughter one morning and she found out her son would be spending Christmas with her daughter. That HURT! Poor Bren! She had just been kind of beating herself up, or at least that’s what I call it, where she wonders if she’s depressed, or maybe it’s the menopause and her hormones are all screwed up. She was going through weight gain, and even though married, NO sex, husband asking her to leave him alone for right now, and whatever else. She says, “Those things are depressing too, right?”
So the Christmas bomb was dropped on her, literally, even though her daughter continually invited her to Thailand. She was afraid one day her daughter would have little Thailand-babies and they’d be running around. Bren’s heart was not in Thailand for Christmas, even though her two kids finally caught up with each other over in Asia, they at least would be together. She felt jealousy, as I know I would, and I’m sure that will happen to me one day, so it was a little refreshing reading about that in this book. It was kind of a preparation for it.
Bren’s neighbor, Virginia Mash (Smash!) starts giving the cooking class problems. It’s too loud. It smells. She sees smoke rising into her apartment. (UGH!) It’s this, it’s that, so the cooking class, instead of breaking up, decides to shower this woman with gifts!
I don’t want to get much more detailed than that so you can enjoy it! You’ll love this! There is the part where they cook Turduckens. That part is hilarious! There are some parts you can’t help but to laugh your behind off! Turducken? I don’t know what it is, either! I know I saw an ad for it on TV at KFC or Burger King one time? I can’t remember! LOL! The ladies were making shapes out of them, etc! It was just too funny!
These are just everyday ladies trying to get by with their families, friends, and the new things that make them happy now that they are empty-nesters. That really does take a toll on you, as they all learn together. The perfect sentimental book for this time off year. This book was provided to me by the Publisher through NetGalley.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jennifer Scott is the national bestselling, award-winning author of Second Chance Friends, The Accidental Book Club, and The Sister Season. Her acclaimed YA novels under a pseudonym, Jennifer Brown, have been selected as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, a VOYA Perfect Ten, and a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year.

CONVERSATION GUIDE INCLUDED - You'll LOVE this! It really gets you thinking about the book and what happens!
Paperback, 384 pages
Published October 27th 2015 by NAL
Please visit Jennifer Scott online at:
Facebook: JenniferScottAuthor
Twitter: JenniferBrownYA

Some of this author’s other books:

Praise for The Accidental Book Club

“The Accidental Book Club will have you laughing and crying at the same time.”
—Fresh Fiction

“The still-evolving relationships between the various women are touching...Scott has drawn an affecting tale of family, love, and forgiveness.”
—BookNAround
Praise for The Sister Season
“Emotionally honest and psychologically astute, The Sister Season is ultimately an uplifting story about the pull of the past, the need for forgiveness, and the redemptive power of familial love.”
—Liza Gyllenhaal, author of A Place for Us
“The Sister Season is a powerful, honest look at the harm that ripples out from every unkindness, and the strength inherent in the sisterly bond.”
—Heidi Jon Schmidt, author of The Harbormaster’s Daughter

For the Giveaway, please fill out this form!

You will need to use the scroll bar to the right of the form to move it around to fill out the questions. Thanks!




Saturday, November 28, 2015

The #NYTimes Top 15 (20) #Bestsellers for the week ending 11-28 plus blog updates!


Welcome! It's been another week of GREAT books, and we HOPE you'll share them with us in the Comments section!! I've read some Christmas books this weeks and have LOVED it!!! What about you?
This post is up every Sunday by NOON at the latest!

Make SURE to come back on Monday, November 30th, for the Review and GIVEAWAY of:
The Hundred Gifts by Jennifer Scott

Let's get right to the books!

FICTION: COMBINED EBOOK AND PRINT
All links here go to the ebook. If you are interested in another version, just look across the top column and choose! By purchasing from this website, and you can do so by clicking on any book, that helps to support this website and to help fund giveaways that are not sponsored by the publishers! Thank you!! Here are the books!


1.   Tricky Twenty-Two: A Stephanie Plum Novel by Janet Evanovich
ebook: $13.99
print:   $17.73




2.  The Guilty by David Baldacci
ebook: $14.99
print:   $10.99



3. Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham
ebook: $14.99
price:   $17.37



4. All Dressed in White: An Under Suspicion Novel by Mary Higgins Clark & Alafair Burke
ebook: $13.99
print:   $10.79



5. The Crossing by Michael Connelly
ebook: $14.99
print:   $13.22



6. The Pharaoh's Secret (NUMA Files series) by Clive Cussler and Graham Brown
ebook: $14.99
print:   $13.38



7. Monster Prick (An Older Brother's Best Friend Romance) by Kendall Ryan
ebook: $2.99
print:   $7.99



8. The Martian: A Novel by Andy Weir
ebook: $8.99
print:   $9.00



9. See Me by Nicholas Sparks
ebook: $12.99
print:   $13.27



10. The Bazaar of Bad Dreams: Stories by Stephen King
ebook: $14.99
print:   $15.00



11. The Mistletoe Inn: A Novel (The Mistletoe Collection) by Richard Paul Evans
ebook: $10.99
print:   $14.89



12. Stars of Fortune: Book One of the Guardians Trilogy by Nora Roberts
ebook: $  9.99
print:   $10.00



13. Orphan #8 by Kim van Alkemade
ebook: $10.99
print:   $ 9.43



14. All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel by Anthony Doerr
ebook: $13.99
print:   $15.29



15. Crimson Shore (Pendergast Series Book 15) by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
ebook: $13.99
print:   $12.44



There we have our first 15, and here is the last 5! I want to thank you for coming! Please leave a suggestion for a book you read that you think anyone else might like! Thanks, again!!


THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN, by Paula Hawkins (Riverhead)
WARHEART, by Terry Goodkind (Tor)
THE PROMISE, by Robert Crais (Putnam)
THE MAGIC STRINGS OF FRANKIE PRESTO, by Mitch Albom (Harper/HarperCollins)
SEVENTH HEAVEN, by Alice Hoffman (Open Road Media)


Friday, November 27, 2015

#BookSpotlight "The Hundred Gifts" by Jennifer Scott - #Review and #Giveaway this Monday, 11-30!



The Hundred Gifts by Jennifer Scott

About the Book:
From the national bestselling author of The Sister Season, The Accidental Book Club and Second Chance Friends shares a new novel about a woman who discovers the spirit of the season is truly in the giving....
Jennifer Scott, the author of The Sister Season, The Accidental Book Club, and Second Chance Friends returns this October with her particular brand of women’s fiction, this time centered on a holiday theme with THE HUNDRED GIFTS (NAL Accent; October 27, 2015), again tackling deep and complicated issues of love, loss, family, and friendship.
With the holidays around the corner, empty-nester Bren Epperson realizes that for the first time in decades, she has no large family to cook for, no celebration to create.  To fill the void, she starts teaching a holiday cooking class, and it’s a huge success—until Virginia Mash, the old lady who lives in the upstairs apartment above the classroom, bursts into her class complaining about the interruption.  Rather than retaliate, Bren suggests that the class shower Virginia with kindness—and give her one hundred gifts.  Together, they embark on a plan to lift the old woman’s heart.  Along the way, amidst the knitting and the making and the baking, they discover that family extends far beyond blood, the best gifts can’t be bought, and that family celebrations can be reborn and new traditions established.

A touching story that arrives just in time for the end of the year, a time of reflection as we prepare for the new year ahead, THE HUNDRED GIFTS captures the true spirit of the holiday season.

#StackingtheShelves #15! Update at the bottom!! A Review and GIVEAWAY on Monday, the 30th! Take a look!

                          Thanks to our Host, Tynga's Reviews

Welcome everyone! This post is where we 'book-aholics' show off the NEW books we got, and they can come from the library, the stores where we bought books at, publishers, authors, publishers websites where we are allowed to get pick books out we like, perhaps a friend gave us a book or books, anywhere and anyhow for that matter! We LOVE to show off our books, so let the showing begin . . . !

This week, I received for review: The Witches of Cambridge by Menna Van Prag! Author of The Dress Shop of Dreams, which I did review! You can read that review by clicking on the title! It was a 2015 favorite of mine! (I'm glad I keep track of those! I also remember it VERY WELL! I MUST post the cover below this book because the cover deserves mentioning! Here it is below her NEW book!
  


I BOUGHT (feeling in the season!!):



The North Pole Prize by Caroline Mickelson



The Christmas Makeover by Caroline Mickelson


On MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30th, I HAVE A #REVIEW AND A #GIVEAWAY for the book, The Hundred Gifts by Jennifer Scott! Make SURE to come back!! Yes, the real cover is a very soft, light color. It's really pretty! Here IS the book!!! The review and giveaway!

The 5th Annual #BLACKFRIDAY #Book #Bonanza!!! NOW to Nov 30th!!!

Thanks to our Hosts, Kimba at Caffeinated Book Reviewer and Jennifer at Book Shelfery! Thanks!!

WELCOME TO THE "5th #Annual" #BLACKFRIDAY #BOOK #BONANZA Now - Nov 27th to Nov 30th!
Instead of YOU WONDERFUL FOLLOWERS OUT THERE having to brave the crowds out in the cold, snowy and windy elements, (at least it is here!) WE BLOGGERS AND AUTHORS are bringing YOU gifts for YOU! Or you can give them away, whatever you prefer!

You'll see the list of other bloggers in this Hop down below at the end, and you can HOP from blog to blog entering their giveaways after you fill out mine! This sure beats those crowds in the stores!!! LOL!!!

GIVEAWAY!!!
"1" WINNER OF THE "EBOOK" SHOWN BELOW:
The Christmas Joy Ride, by Melody Carlson!
THIS INCLUDES THE US AND MY INTERNATIONAL READERS, BOTH!  




DESCRIPTION:
Miranda did not put adventure on her Christmas list, but thanks to her eighty-five-year-old neighbor Joy, that's exactly what she's getting this year. When Joy tells Miranda that she plans to drive an old RV decked out in Christmas decorations from their Chicago neighborhood to her new retirement digs in Phoenix--in the dead of winter, no less--the much younger Miranda insists that Joy cannot make such a trip by herself. Besides, a crazy trip with Joy would be more interesting than another Christmas home alone. Unemployed and facing foreclosure, Miranda feels she has nothing to lose by packing a bag and heading off to Route 66. But Joy has a hidden agenda for their Christmas joyride--and a hidden problem that could derail the whole venture.


No one captures the heartwarming fun of the Christmas season quite like Melody Carlson. Fasten your seat belt, because it's going to be an exciting ride!



(I want to add that if you are EVER looking to read ANY type of Christmas story, aside from Debbie Macomber, and a few other AMAZING authors out there who write those amazing Christmas stories, Melody Carlson IS ONE AUTHOR YOU CAN DEPEND ON to write an OUTSTANDING Christmas story! Pick ANY of her books, and you'll be in HEAVEN reading it!!! She is the FIRST AUTHOR I GO TO for a Christmas story every year! You can't help but to LOVE that bus this year, too!)

HOW DO YOU ENTER THIS GIVEAWAY?
FILL OUT THE FORM BELOW!
I have read this book and am ready to write the review to go with it, too! It is a lovely book, and PERFECT for the holidays! It's unlike ANY other Christmas story I have ever read before! You ARE going to LOVE this story!

PS. See the SCROLL BAR ON THE RIGHT? IT'S A DARKER GREY, please use that to move the form around! Thanks!!







Here are ALL the other blogs in this HOP! Good luck but most of all, HAVE FUN!!!!






Sunday, November 22, 2015

The #NYTimes Top 15 (20) #Bestsellers for this past week ending today, Nov 22, 2015 + Blog Updates!!!


Welcome! It's been another week of GREAT books and reading! I hope YOU have enjoyed it, too! This post is always up by NOON every Sunday, and most of the time earlier!
At the time I am writing this, well, ALL DAY LONG, I've had a migraine. You may be entertained with spelling, my grammar, or who knows what else! I just thought I would warn you like I do my husband! He has quite a FUN time! LOL!!! Seriously, I may as well alloa you, him or whoever a good time because you NEVER KNOW what can happen, and why not have fun when it's there for the taking! At least that's how I look at it!! Here we go . . . !!!!!!!!!!                

I got a TON of new books for review! You can see ALL the NEW books I have for review coming up soon and for my reading pleasure HERE! All in ebook though.

GIVEAWAYS!!! In the LEFT SIDE COLUMN!!! These do not have a lot of entries on them, so take advantage!!! Both are quite LOW! The are at the top of the left side column and ending soon!
There is a DESIGNER CLUTCH AND A KINDLE FIRE - BOTH WITH THEIR BOOKS, TOO! SO RUN!!!!!!!!!!

WINNERS for MY Kindle Giveaway and some other books will be announced NEXT WEEK! I'll have them ALL together and hopefully a return email for the Kindle~ Watch you email for the Kindle Giveaway WINNER as I have had 4 people MISS their emails!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to any of you who may not see this the day I send this wish out - THIS Thursday, the day Tom will be eaten!

Today/tonight we are getting anywhere from 6-8 inches of snow. It's piling up out there because the ONLY bummer about having Satellite TV is the Satellite eye (lightbulb) gets covered with ice and snow at times, so hubby has to get creative, (and I think we've doe it!!!!) We duct taped a piece of vacuum cleaner pipe to the end of a broom! It'll make it long enough to reach the top of the roof (where it's at) and he clan clean off the the lightbulb! He's headed out there now, so I will hear if this was a good idea - or not! If not - I'm OUT of here!!!

He just went out! There is always a special quiet when the snow is falling and piling up! A peaceful quiet. I LOVE that! (Has to be a quiet time because the swearing starts when the people have to start cleaning it off of things and shoveling! LOL!!!)

It worked!!!! Our local channels are out, but we have ALLLLLLL the other channels working now!!! YEAH!!!! Despite have a million electronic toys, we still NEED the TV! LOL!!!

Okay! Let's hit the books!!!

FICTION: EBOOK AND PRINT COMBINED
I have to say last week was GREAT!!! Some of the prices of the ebooks were LOWERED!!! yeah!!!!! I HOPE it stays that way!! Thank you #PUBLISHERS !!!!


1. Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham
ebook: $14.99
print:   $17.55



2. The Crossing by Michael Connelly
ebook: $14.99
print    $14.38



3. The Promise: An Elvis Cole and Joe Pike Novel by Robert Crais
ebook: $13.99
print:   $12.16


(Guess what? It has not been even a 1/2 hour - only maybe 15-20 minutes, and the snow has built up of top of the satellite lightbulb eye again! No! He's NOT happy! Looks like it'll be a Netflix night!)

4. Crimson Shore (Pendergast Series Book 15) by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
ebook: $13.99
print:   $ 9.99



5. The Martian: A Novel by Andy Weir
ebook: $8.99
print:   $9.00



6. The Bazaar of Bad Dreams: Stories by Stephen King
ebook: $14.99
print:   $18.00



7. See Me by Nicholas Sparks
ebook: $12.99
print:   $ 7.99



8. Stars of Fortune: Book One of the Guardians Trilogy by Nora Roberts
ebook: $  9.99
print:   $10.64



9. The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto: A Novel by Mitch Albom
ebook: $12.99
print:   $17.63



10. November 9: A Novel by @ColleenHoover
ebook: $  7.99
print:   $11.40



11. Reaper's Fire: Reapers Motorcycle Club by Joanna Wylde
ebook: $  5.99
print:   $12.96
'


12. The Survivor (A Mitch Rapp Novel Book 12) by Vince Flynn and Kyle Mills
ebook: $14.99
print:   $16.80



13. All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel by Anthony Doerr
ebook: $13.99
print:   $17.44



14. Career of Evil (Cormoran Strike Book 3) by Robert Galbraith
ebook: $14.99
print:   $11.75



15. The Japanese Lover: A Novel by Isabel Allende
ebook: $ 14.99
print:   $  9.38


Thanks for coming today! Please share with us what you are reading!! See you next week!
Here are the rest!

16.THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN, by Paula Hawkins (Riverhead)

17.DEPRAVED HEART, by Patricia Cornwell (Morrow/HarperCollins)

18. EASY MELODY, by Kristen Proby (Ampersand)

19.  THE NIGHTINGALE, by Kristin Hannah (St. Martin's)

20.  THE MURDER HOUSE, by James Patterson and David Ellis (Little, Brown)

Friday, November 20, 2015

Stacking the Shelves #14

                            Thanks to our Host, Tynga's Reviews     

Wow! I have SO MUCH reading to do!!! I've gone over to NetGalley and NEW books were there! I have requested into 2016! I better get reading FAST!!! Let's see what they are!

Don't miss the #GIVEAWAYS in the LEFT SIDE COLUMN! One is a clutch that is also a piece of ART! Valued at $225 by designer Holly A Jones! The author of "Clutch" is Lisa Becker, and she went ALL out on this prize! OH!!! Plus you get a PRINT COPY OF HER BOOK, TOO!

The 2nd Giveaway is for a Kindle FIRE plus a print copy of her book! LOTS of HUGE prizes!! Between you and I, the entries are on the lower end, so you have a GREAT chance!! GOOD LUCK!!!!

                                                                                                               
The Postcard by Lily Rose Graham - Releases Dec 1st! I requested/NetGalley

                                                                                                                    The Making of a Milliner; Hat Making Projects by Jenny Pfanenstiel - I LOVE hats and wish we would wear them HERE in the US like they do in the UK! NetGalley/New Release/Nov 18th



The Passenger, a novel, by Lisa Luta New Release/March 1st/NetGalley


The Doll's House, A Detective Helen Grace Thriller Book 3 by M J Arlidge (Blog Tour - My date is Feb 2nd, same as Release Date!) with Penguin/Random House/New Release/First there was Eeny Meeny, then Pop Goes the Weasel, and now THIS ONE! I've read the first two so far and loved them! I LOVE thrillers, though!!!

I purchased:

Hope Under Mistletoe, a novella by Jessica R Patch


   Bittersweet by Colleen McCullough

 
The Midwife's Revolt by Jodi Daynard



Blogger Girl by Meredith Schorr


November 9 by Colleen Hoover

That's IT!!! That's ENOUGH!!!
I better get reading!!! LOL!!!