It's Monday! What are you Reading May 23, 2011?

This meme starts at One Person's Journey Through A World of Books!

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 finished another good five books this week.  I posted three reviews, one with Hachette (double) Giveaway, one ARC Giveaway and one old copy Giveaway.  I also posted the Friday Pick Giveaway; Enquiring Mind Meme with Giveaway, Sunday post and a winners' post.

I only visited a handful of blogs last week. I fixed my laptop internet so I hope I will get to visit a bit more.  These were last week's posts plus Winners' posts not listed.

•  It's Monday What are You Reading? May 16, 2011.

• Audible Book Review and Print Giveaway: Fancy Pants by Susan Elizabeth Phillips; Contemporary Romance; my rating 4.0.  Ends 5/27

• Two Book Reviews and Double Book Giveaway: Going Cowboy Crazy and Make Mine a Bad Boy by Katie Lane;  Contemporary Romance; my ratings 4.0.  Ends 6/3.

• Q&A Interview with Katie Lane, Author of Going Cowboy Crazy and Make Mine a Bad Boy.

•  Martha's Bookshelf***Friday Pick Giveaway May 20, 2011.  Ends 5/26.

•  Book Review and ARC Giveaway: The Legend of Michael by Lisa Renee Jones.  Paranormal Suspense; My Rating 4.25.  Ends 6/3.

•  Enquiring Minds Meme Week #38 with Comment Giveaway.  Ends 5/27.

•  Sunday Words of Encouragement May 22, 2011.

Finished Reading:
Print:

SEALed Forever

by Mary Daughtridge
I really enjoyed this!
I will post the review and giveaway on Tuesday.

Kindle:

Seeing for the First Time (What You See is What You Get)

by Nicole Zoltack

ALSO

To See (What You See is What You Get)

These were short and fun 
YA paranormals. 

I will do a review post this week.

Product Description
Now that Ana can see, her summer has taken on a new direction. Instead of shopping and going to the beach with friends, she has to register with the Seer’s Council. There, Ana meets Eric, a hot guy who happens to also be a vampire seer. Eric is impressed that Ana took on a vampire all by herself but wonders if Victor truly is dead.

So Ana and Eric return to the scene of the crime and make a dangerous discovery, one that could put their lives in danger. Snooping around during the daytime seems safe enough, until they lose track of time and night quickly descends. Vampires must hide in shadows, but the moon offers all kinds of opportunities.

Are Ana and Eric the hunters… or the prey?

Audible:

Blood Bound: Mercy Thompson, Book 2
by Patricia Biggs
I enjoyed the second in this series. I will try to do a review this week.

My own TBR.

Mechanic Mercy Thompson has friends in low places - and in dark ones. And now she owes one of them a favor. Since she can shapeshift at will, she agrees to act as some extra muscle when her vampire friend Stefan goes to deliver a message to another of his kind. But this new vampire is hardly ordinary - and neither is the demon inside of him.

Audio Cassettes

Poirot Investigates - Volume 1

by Agatha Christie

This is in the Friday Pick group and 
I decided to read it before it was won.

Line Edits/Releases:

Still finalizing a novel and a novella for release this week.

Currently reading:
Audible:

Kitty Goes to Washington: Kitty Norville Book 2
 by Carrie Vaughn
I am almost done listening to this entertaining story.

Product Description
The country's only celebrity werewolf, late-night radio host Kitty Norville prefers to be heard, not seen. But when she's invited to testify at a Senate hearing on behalf of supernaturals, her face gets plastered on national television. Kitty has been in hot water before, but jumping into the D.C. underworld brings a new set of problems - and a new set of friends and enemies, including the vampire mistress of the city; a super-hot Brazilian were-jaguar; and a paranoid, Bible-thumping senator who wants to expose Kitty as a monster. Kitty quickly learns that in this city of dirty politicians and backstabbing pundits, everyone's itching for a fight.

Print:

Mary of Carisbrooke: The Girl Who Would Not Betray Her King

by Margaret Campbell Barnes

Now that I have started this 
I am enjoying the good 
writing on this historical fiction.

Product Description

"Margaret Campbell Barnes has been one of the most reliable of England's historical novelists."
-Chicago Tribune

A Girl, A King, and the castle that changed them both Forever...

Charles I, king of England, thought that Carisbrooke Castle would be safe, an Isle of Wight refuge far from the madding crowd of Cromwell. But Charles ran straight into the arms of betrayal, his retreat morphing to prison and his allies few and far between.

Mary, a quiet servant girl in awe of her king and country, vaults into intrigue and danger as she helps to plot the king's escape.

A moving story of royal hopes and misfortunes, Mary of Carisbrooke is at its heart the tale of a charming girl who is as romantic and alluring as she is smart and bold. Loyal to herself and to the Crown, Mary's brush with history reveals just how quickly fate can shift the paths of power.

Audio:

A Morning For Flamingos by James Lee Burke

This is another audiobook in the Friday Pick group I wanted to listen too before someone won it. :-)

Clutching the shards of his shattered life, Cajun detective Dave Robicheaux has rejoined the New Iberia police force. While transporting two death-row prisoners, Dave is wounded and his partner killed -- reopening the doors to a past he would have rather kept closed.
Now he's trailing a killer into the heart of the Big Easy's underworld. Increasingly possessed by his undercover role, Robicheaux surprisingly forms an intimate bond with a Mafia don. Embroiled in a world of drug dealers, prostitutes and double-crosses, Robicheaux must still confront his most dangerous enemy -- himself.
Rich with fascinating characters and dramatic plot twists, the audio debut of James Lee Burke and his Cajun detective Dave Robicheaux recalls the best of Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe -- tough, complex and thoroughly entertaining.

Print - (might get on Kindle):

Illuminations of the Heart (Historical Romance Novels) 

by Joyce DiPastena. 

This is a "won book" I have been wanting to read.

Product Description

"Clothilde." He spoke the name on a breath like a prayer. Then he lowered his head and kissed her.

Her heart is lost in that first embrace, her world is shaken to its foundations. There is just one problem; her name is not Clothilde. It is Siriol de Calendri. Trained in the art of illumination in the far-off city of Venice, Siri is directed by her late brother's will to the county of Poitou in France, where she enters the guardianship of her brother's friend Sir Triston de Brielle. Once in Poitou, Siri hopes to find employment in an illuminator's shop - until Triston unexpectedly snatches her heart away with a kiss.

Triston is a man of quiet honor and courage, but the guild he carries for the death of his late wife, Clothilde, has left him numb and hesitant to love again. Worse yet, Siri bears an uncanny resemblance to his lost love. Or does she? Her merry laughter and twinkling eyes are very different from his late wife's shy smiles and quiet ways. Yet when he gazes into Siri's face, all he sees is Clothilde.

Then Triston's past returns to threaten them both. Will his tragic life with Clothilde be repeated with Siri? Trapped between the rivalry of the king's sons on the one hand and a neighbor out for vengeance on the other, Triston realizes it would be safer to send Siri away. But how can he bear to lose her again?

Siri is determined not to be cast off and not to live in another woman's shadow. She has illuminated many a priceless book with pen and paint. But can her own vibrant spirit illuminate the darkness in Triston's soul and make his heart beat for her alone?

Audible -I think the next listen will be The 39 Clues, Book 1: The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan.

Audible: 

I am listening to The Listener's Bible NIV 

read by Max McLean. I am at 1 Samuel 24, Psalm 125 and John 17.

Line Edits:  Almost finished with finalized formats on Her Dreams Come True by Miranda Heart, Novella to be posted this week and working on final formats on Sword of Virtue by Joy Brooks.  Then  formats Life After the Undead by Pembroke Sinclair and Soylent Red by Jamieson Wolf.
 

I will post June books next week.

Sunday Words of Encouragement May 22, 2011

We had a grand service this morning with the Spirit reminding us that God controls the time of Christ's return... no man knows the date or hour.  And God may choose to delay His coming while He calls every last soul who will respond.

Pastor gave an interesting sermon entitled "Breaking the Cycle of Immaturity." (See 1 Cor 13:11.)  Pastor gave us three steps to help keep us growing and moving toward maturity. This is just the outline and my summary (and interpretation) from Pastor's lesson. Perhaps another day I will share more of the in depth comments which were also striking to me.

We come as children to believe and accept Christ as our savior. As teenagers we act on emotion not on mature, intellectual choices. But we are told that we should be maturing so that we can be of service to God's cause and to be a witness to others of His mercy and grace.  As we grow in spiritual understanding we see more of the pieces and more of the larger of God's plan... or at least His purpose even if we still do not see His plan.

1> Change of Character - we need to become whole and complete until our behavior, which is on display, reveals the character of God and not the nature of man. Maturity will lead to security in our position and contentment with our circumstances...thus allowing God to use us as He will.
2> Change of Crowd - we need to make sure that we are not aimless and not allowing ourselves to be influenced by the wrong (sinful nature) crowd.  We should be the people influencing those around us. We should seek people and circumstances that are productive, of value and leading to peace.
3> Change of Course - we need to recognize that our lives are determined by our choices. Even if we don't always "feel" like it, as followers of Christ we should direct ourselves to a point where we choose: to pray; to tithe; to worship; to do what is right; to forgive; to study God's word to help us gain maturity.

This song came to mind -
I had to hunt it down as I kept finding a different version
and this is the one I wanted to share.

Verses for Today:

Psalm 37: 30 -31

30The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks what is just.

31The law of his God is in his heart; his feet do not slip. 

I prayed this morning that God would help us grow up in Him.

Winner of Holy Guacamole and Replacement Winner for 2 St. Claire books

As always - Thank you to those who entered.

CONGRATULATIONS

to the Winner of

Holy Guacamole 

by Dan and Denise Harmer

I had to pick a replacement winner for 

 Shiver of Fear (The Guardian Angelinos) 

AND  Face of Danger (Guardian Angelinos)

by Roxanne St. Claire 

 

Congratulations to 

Book Dilettante (harvee 44)

Enquiring Minds - Meme Week 38 PLUS Comment Giveaway + Winner

Most of us agree we like to be outside on a bright sunny spring day! I would love to go on an archaeological dig with Elizabeth too! That would be awesome.  Green and Blue tied as favorite colors with four votes each and October and December each got three votes.

The Winner from Enquiring Minds Week #37 is: #13 Jane. Jane, please pick a book from the Love Books List for Giveaway or remaining Christmas Giveaway Books and let me know your choice, your address and a choice of bookmarks if desired.

This meme is hosted by Dollycas Thoughts for Thursdays - which are hard for me to make.  The goal is to get to know our fellow bloggers and visitors better. Each week Dolly asks some questions for us to answer and then link up. I am late doing the post but I am trying to to participate as I would like to learn more about blogger and follower friends.

WEEK 38 QUESTIONS

1. When you were little what did you want to be when you grew up?

HA - I think sometime before the age of 12 I read Alice in Wonderland. I can't find the quote but somehow I always knew then that 'if I am to be a queen, I'd surely handle it in time.'

In High School I wanted to be a writer, more precisely a journalist and that was my undergrad work in college. But as soon as I took a business law class in college - I was hooked on law.

2. Did you go to college?

Yes for 6 years. I got a BS in Journalism/Public Relations. Then I got my JD - Juris Doctor - in Law.

3. Do you attend your high school or college reunions?

My DH and I attended my 20 year reunion with my sister and her husband - she and I graduated together. I have not gone since although my sister has. My DH and I danced up a storm!  
We have not been to a college reunion.

Your turn to share: What did you want to be when you grew up? Did you go to college? Do you attend reunions? Please NOTE while you are answering - Lori at Dollycas has advised that she is going to be ending this meme at #40. I have really enjoyed getting to know you better by your answers and I may continue the questions or I could go to a comment meme. Please let me know if you are interested in continuing the enquiring type questions or would prefer another type of comment meme.

Enquire Comment Winners can choose a selection from  Valentine and "Love" books or the remaining Christmas Giveaway Books. 

Rules: a) Must be a follower; b) Share a comment on any (or all) of the three questions above.
Open internationally and an international winner may get a smaller book or a $5.00 GC if I decide the mailing is too much.
I will pick a Comment winner from all comments made by Friday, May 27 at 10PM central. 

Book Review and ARC Giveaway: The Legend of Michael by Lisa Renee Jones

An entertaining read where Super Soldiers battle for control of the world -- and individually.

The Legend of Michael: Sin and Satisfaction (Zodius) by Lisa Renee Jone

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca (May 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402251564
• ISBN-13: 978-1402251566

Genre: Paranormal Suspense
 My Rating:  4.25 of 5.0

Product Description

"Jones scorches the pages...the result is seductive and volatile!"
-RT Book Reviews
HE IS A LETHAL WEAPON...
One of an army of human soldiers injected with alien DNA, Michael is a legend within this new race, split between good and evil. Untamable, he has walked on the dark side and returned to the light. Feared and misunderstood, he leaves everything behind, including the one woman destined to be his mate.
HE IS HER ENEMY...AND HER DESTINY...
Cassandra holds the key to Michael's power, and his pain. With loyalties divided and against insurmountable odds, Cassandra's heart propels her to Michael's side-but can her love do anything but destroy him...

No ordinary woman can control a creature such as Michael, and only one thing is clear-the world will never be the same...

Review:  This is fast paced, sexually charged, action.
Cassandra is a beautiful psychologist who has been brought into the top-secret facilities at Area 51 to evaluate the recently created hi-tech soldiers known as GTECHs. These are Super Soldiers who were created by injection of alien DNA. The secret Project Zodius is headed by Cassandra’s father, General Powell. Although Cassandra believes her father’s claims that he is trying to protect and help the Zodius soldiers, sometimes she has doubts.

Michael is one of the top Gtech Soldiers with his super human strength, his dedication to the mission and his special abilities to not only wind walk, like all the GTECHS, but his newly developing ability which he is keeping secret.  Michael knows that getting involved with Cassandra could expose her to danger but he can’t resist the attraction.

Cassandra knows better than to get involved with a man whose life is soldiering and who is also a “patient” in her program. When she decides that one dinner can’t hurt she has no idea how the magnetic pull between them could lead to bonding them together — in trouble.

A group of the GTECH soldiers, led by Adam and helped by Michael, escapes from the government control to establish their own colony. Adam is darkly evil and plans to take over the world with his super human Zodius race. The remaining GTECH soldiers, the Renegades, are being led by Adam’s twin brother, Caleb.  It is the Renegades goal to protect humans from the brutal Zodius soldiers.

While the two soldier factions gather their resources, General Powell and his scientists are creating a new weapon which is developed from a red alien crystal. Although use of Red Dart has been fatal to humans, Powell hopes to use it to trace, torture and control the GTECH soldiers.

When Michael returns after being with the enemy soldiers for two years Cassandra doesn’t know who she can trust. Michael claims he was undercover for the Renegades and he tells her of her father’s real plans to use Red Dart to gain control of the Renegades as well as the Zodius soldiers.  Cassandra doesn’t want to believe her father is so ruthless. Can she really trust Michael? Can Michael keep her safe when she is a target for Zodius to either kill or use as a hostage?

I liked the characters of Cassandra and Michael who are both strong yet have a vulnerability and need for each other.  I especially liked the very good story line which has lots of creativity and action.  I liked the chemistry among the characters and there are other characters who also have some good chemistry and banter.  I wasn’t totally enthralled with the plentiful romance scenes which are pretty edgy - “scorching” as the book blurb says.  I think I would like to continue the series to see how the battle goes and I can hope the heat level won’t get any hotter.

xxx

Thank you to Sourcebooks for the book to read and review.

TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY FOR THE ARC:

1. Visit the Author's Blog and tell me something you like there.
Please leave your e-mail!

2. For an extra entry, become a follower or tell me if you are already a follower.

3. For two extra entries, blog, facebook, tweet (any of those networks!) about this giveaway and tell me where you did.

(Four total entries possible.)
It isn't necessary to use separate entries unless you want them in different chronological order.

* This contest is open US and Canada only.
* No P.O. Boxes Please - for shipping reasons.
* This contest will close 10:00 PM (Central) on June 3, 2011.
The winner will be randomly selected from all entries.