It's Monday! What Are You Reading? January 28, 2013

This meme starts at Book Journey!

What Are You Reading, is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

I've spent the weekend in bed with a cold (not flu, thank goodness). Hope to be back on my feet tomorrow, especially as we have our annual church tea tomorrow night. I will set my table tomorrow and hope I don't pass the bug to anyone else. :-\

Meanwhile I had a good reading week. I finished five books and  posted four reviews.  two with giveaways. There were also two Giveaway links and one print giveaway posts. I posted Friday Pick Giveaway, Saturday Snapshot, Sharing Beyond Books Comment Giveaway and Sunday Words.
I did good visiting last Sunday evening but little after that. Since I'll be sleeping off the cold soon I'm not sure if I will get to visit much this week.
Thanks again to all the nice people who visit me too.

These were last week's posts:

• It's Monday What are You Reading? January 21, 2013.

• Mailbox Monday 1/21/13.

• BookBlast with Giveaway Link - $75.00 GC: daynight by Meghan Thomason. Open Worldwide. Ends 2/3/13.

• Book Review: The Blessed and The Damned by Michael Wallace; Thriller; my rating 4.25.

• Guest Post by Michael Wallace. Child Lost, Writer Found.

• Book Review with Giveaway Link $50.00 GC: daynight by Meghan Thomason; YA Dystopia; my rating 4.0. Open Worldwide. Ends 2/7/13.

• Martha's Bookshelf***Friday Pick Giveaway January 25, 2013.
  Open Worldwide. Ends 1/31/13.
  

• Book Review and Giveaway: Every Perfect Gift by Dorothy Love; Historical Romance; my rating 4.25. Print copy to US Only. Ends 2/1/13.

• Saturday Snapshot (1/26/13) Dec Visit to the Big Island Hawaii.
  

• Audio Book Review: Ashes of Twilight by Kassey Tayler; YA Dystopia; my rating 4.5.
  

• Sharing Beyond Books #84 Comment Giveaway 1/26/13. Ends 2/1/13.

• Sunday Words of Encouragement January 27, 2013.

Finished Reading:

1. eBook/Kindle 

daynight
by Megan Thomason
Engaging YA Dystopia. Review linked above.

2. Print

The Officer Breaks the Rules (Semper Fidelis. Always Faithful)
by Jeanette Murray
This is good for romance.
I'll post a Review and ARC giveaway this week.
Reviewing for Sourcebooks.

3. Audio/MP3

The Lost Flower Children
by Janet Taylor Lisle (Author),
Caitlin Davies (Narrator)
Interesting and intriguing. 
I will post a review this week.
I am reviewing for AudioGO through AudioBook Jukebox.

4. Print

Journey to Forgiveness
by Laurean Brooks
This is a delightful story with great history.
I pulled this from my Won TBR.
I'll post a review and giveaway this week!
Book Description
Publication Date: January 9, 2009
When Jenny Hinson's abusive father deserts the family, the responsibility of the family's Tennessee farm falls to Jenny and her mother. Four years later, in 1938, boll weevils infest the cotton crop, plunging the Hinsons into dire financial straits and Jenny takes the train north to find work. Electricity has yet to reach rural Chicory Valley. But, not only is the young woman introduced to it in its tapped form in Chicago, but also encounters a few jolts along the way when she challenges the infuriating Austin Grant over a luggage mishap.

Sparks fly outside the Kankakee train station when Jenny discovers her missing vanity case under Austin's arm. She immediately labels him a thief. And after Austin coaxes money from her aunt's congregation, Jenny determines to find enough evidence to expose him and his nefarious deeds. Why did Austin pull money from the mission strong box and stuff a sizable roll into his pocket? Wasn't this just the proof Jenny needed? Then why was she reluctant to report the theft? And why did her heart race at every encounter with the notorious Austin?

Jenny's personal convictions would never allow a relationship where trust was blatantly missing. Can Jenny muster enough courage to ask Austin the tough questions that will ultimately make or break their relationship? Can she forgive her father's brutality? Find out as you follow Jenny's struggles in "Journey To Forgiveness."

5. eBook/Kindle

One More Winter: A Short Story
Rebecca K. O'Connor
Genre: Fiction My Rating: 4.0
This is a well written, somewhat surprising story on handling grief. Or more accurately, years of a wife of a MIA not accepting death and then finding a way to accept and bring closure to herself and her daughter. 
It is fiction but based upon a real loss. I like the gentle sadness shared and I would read more by Ms. O'Connor.
This is a short free Kindle from my TBR that I squeezed in for January.
Book Description
Publication Date: May 27, 2011
Grief is a personal animal. Mary knows this from experience and a lifetime of waiting for permission to let go of her MIA husband and find closure for both her and her daughter, Teresa who is now an adult. Grief has its own course however and closure comes in unexpected ways.

O'Connor is an award-winning writer who writes about the natural world, the human-animal relationship and the bonds that join us all.

Line Edits/Releases:
I have two children's titles that I expect to upload this week.

Currently reading:
1. eBook/Kindle 

Immortal Craving
by Kendra Leigh Castle
Ohh - really better than I expected!
Reviewing for Forever Romance. 

2. eBook/Kindle

An Amish Kitchen Anthology/Collection
by Beth Wiseman (Author), Amy Clipston (Author), Kelly Long (Author)
I am looking forward to starting this.
Reviewing with giveaway for Thomas Nelson.
Book Description
Publication Date: December 18, 2012

The Amish Kitchen is the Heart of the Home – and the Ideal Setting for Stories of Love and Hope.

Fall in Paradise, Pennsylvania always brings a brisk change in the weather. This time also provides unexpected visitors, new love, and renewed hope for three women.

Fern has a green thumb for healing herbs and flowers, but longs for love to bloom in her life. The next-door neighbor’s oldest son Abram comes running into Fern’s kitchen seeking help for his little sister. The crisis soon leads to a promise of romance—until an incident threatens to end their growing attraction.

Nearby, Hannah runs her parents’ bed and breakfast, Paradise Inn—but her life feels nothing like Paradise. She longs for a man of integrity to enter her life, but never expected him to knock on the front door looking for a room. Will she be able trust Stephen with her future once she discovers his mysterious past?

When a storm blows a tree onto Eve’s farmhouse, she has little choice but to temporarily move her family into her parents’ home. Outside of cooking together in the kitchen, Eve and her mother can’t agree on anything. But this may be just the recipe for hope in healing old wounds.

Three Amish stories—each celebrating love, family, and faith—all taking place in a tight-knit community where the kitchen truly is the heart of the home.

3. eBook/Kindle
 

Jack Templar Monster Hunter: The Templar Chronicles: Book One
by Jeff Gunhus
This sounds like a fun read. I will be posting a BookBlast Giveaway this week and my review on 2/4/13.
Book Description
Publication Date: October 17, 2012
If you're not a monster hunter, don't read this book!

Seriously, this book is not meant for you. By reading it, you run the risk of attracting monsters to your position and being attacked. So, unless you are willing to join the fight...just walk away.

Still here? OK, don't say I didn't warn you. Let me introduce myself. I'm Jack Templar and I'm an orphan.

Recently, I discovered that I came from a long line of monster hunters. You know, vampires, werewolves, zombies, you name it. Turns out there was some kind of truce between monsters and the hunters that kids under fourteen were off-limits. I didn't find out about all this until the day before my birthday. Yeah, you guessed it, my fourteenth birthday. So, all bets were off. The monsters were coming to get me.

Not only that, but I also found out that if monsters around the world could choose one human to kill, it would be me. Why? I haven’t a clue, but the hunters I've met talk about a prophecy and that they think I'm the One...whatever that means. I’d like to find out some day, but for right now, I’m just trying to stay alive.

If you want to hear a story that will scare you, gross you out and forever change the way you look at the world around you, then you came to the right place.

But, if you want to keep the illusion that the world is a safe and orderly place, then get out of here and stop wasting my time.

Do your duty, come what may.
JT
"Gunhus brings young readers a monster-filled romp...complete with action, cliff-hangers and surprise reveals." -Kirkus Reviews.

4. eBook/Kindle

The Escape Diaries: Life and Love on the Lam
(A Loveswept Contemporary Romance)
by Juliet Rosetti
This looks like a fun romance.
Reviewing for Random House.
Book Description
Publication Date: December 10, 2012
Introducing the hilarious new heroine, Mazie Maguire, in Juliet Rosetti’s irresistible debut novel that follows the outrageous adventure of a woman on the run.

Wrongly convicted of killing her philandering husband, Mazie Maguire is three years into her life sentence when fate intervenes—in the form of a tornado. Just like that, she’s on the other side of the fence, running through swamps and cornfields, big box stores and suburban subdivisions. Hoping to find out who really murdered her husband, Mazie must stay a few steps ahead of both the law and her mother-in-law, who would like nothing better than to personally administer Mazie the death penalty via lethal snickerdoodle. With the Feds in hot pursuit and the national media hyping her story, Mazie stumbles upon a vast political conspiracy and a man who might just be worth a conjugal visit—if she survives.

Includes a special message from the editor, as well as excerpts from these Loveswept titles: The Devil’s Thief, Paradise Café, and The Perfect Catch.

I continue to listen to The Listener's Bible NIV read by Max McLean. [Reading and listening on MP3.]  I am studying with the Tyndall One Year Bible this year, hoping to read daily along with my DH.

Line Edits: I'll be back to conversions this week now that my appeal brief is filed.

I had listed 16 books for January with Audios to be added. I have completed reading 19 with three reviews to do this week. I expect I'll read at least two more for the week.  One title will move into February.

Scheduled for January

1/28 Book Blast: Jack Templar: Monster Hunter by Jeff Gunhus

Unscheduled (dates after the author indicate the release date):
Sourcebooks - read, review to post


Hachette
Immortal Craving by Kendra Leigh Castle (1/29/13)

NET GALLEY
      Random House:
           The Escape Diaries by Juliet Rosetti (12/10/12)

     Thomas Nelson (Hope to post with Giveaways)
         An Amish Kitchen Anthology/Collection (12/18/12)
         Waiting for Morning (The Brides Of Last Chance Ranch Series) by Margaret Brownley (1/8/13)

Audiobook Jukebox (more to be received)

Authors - Done

Ladies Book Club (Done)

(I'm thinking I'd like to do a title with January or Winter in it for one of these)
TBR Collection + Won book: Journey to Forgiveness by Laurean Brooks - review to post
Won Book -  (Broken Pieces)
Free Kindle/Nook or Smashwords - One More Winter - done