Saturday Snapshot (May 18, 2013) Wood, Fruits and Hummer

Here are a few 'new' items around our house.

Remember the wood that was being cut a few weeks back? Here is the final wood pile.

We have several small (but valiant) blueberry bushes.

You can see a small cluster of greenish berries there from two weeks ago.

DH says I should check them tomorrow morning. :-)

This is our first strawberry that my DH gave me to enjoy this morning.

And here is the first shot of a hummingbird this season.

We put the feeder up the beginning of the week and had to refill it this morning.

They aren't used to us yet this year so I was lucky to get this one to fly in for a sip while I was sitting, not so patiently, with my camera.

Thanks to all who stop by and visit. I hope to get by Saturday morning to return the visits.

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Martha's Bookshelf***Friday Pick Giveaway May 17, 2013

[** If you are new to Friday Pick Giveaway - Welcome!  Scroll down a bit (below book group #19) for instructions on how to enter.]

Happy Friday!!  I hope this has been a good week for all. I have had some court proceedings that kept me busy.  Sorry that I forgot to link last weeks Friday Pick and SSB#99 on the sidebar last week. I'm glad most of you found the posts to enter.  -- I hope to put up a new group of books next Friday. :-)

[***I'm sorry I have bad news for the international entrants -- I have to ask you to stick with GCs as the new postage rates have almost doubled. What might have been a $6.25 mail out is now close to $12.00.]

Thank you to all who entered the May 10 Pick. There were TWO Automatic wins this week. (Automatic winners are those who requested the book four times and I did not note other people asking for that book during those weeks). There were FIVE titles blocked this week!
Anita gets Please Remember This
and
Ingeborg gets Lord Liar

CONGRATULATIONS
to Random.org picked Winners from May 10 Pick:

Gwen gets The Boy's Tale

Linda gets a GC

All winners please fill in the Winner's Acceptance Form or email me to confirm your win, send your snail mail address information and let me know if you would like bookmarks - sensual or sexy and I have a new supply of sweet bookmarks.

It's a beautiful May - hope you have butterflies and books for joy!

Image of "Hope", a book sculpture by Su Blackwell

New Book Group #38 April 20, 2013
Here is a group with many mysteries.  Links to be added as I get time.

Pairs:
Amanda Scott
      Abducted Heiress and Highland Bride
Sandra Brown
     Texas! Chase and Exclusive (spine wear) (not the covers as on the links)
A Murderous Yarn by Monica Ferris
Deadly Advise by Roberta Isleib
Dial Emmy for Murder by Eileen Davidson 
On Deadly Ground (Love Inspired Suspense) by Lauren Nichols
Happy Never After by Kathy Hogan Trocheck
Female Intellignece by Jane Heller
Improper English by Katie MacAllister
Sheer Dynamite by Jennifer Skully
Golden Chances by Rebbecca Hagen Lee
Caitlin's Guardian Angel by Marie Ferrarella
Burning Alive by Shannon K. Butcher
Awaken the Senses by Nalini Singh


New Book Group #37 March 22, 2013

As I am linking these titles it is clear to me why they were in my TBR boxes and it is really hard to let them go but I have soooo many. Better that they find good reader homes than sit on my shelves, or in a box, and collect dust. 
Pairs:
Carly Phillips
     The Heartbreaker and Simply Sinful
Singles:
Anthology: Something Borrowed, Something Blue - this book has spine creases and minor water damage...I thought I had read it and liked it but now I realize it was another anthology I read with Elaine Barbier.
Bride by Command by Linda Winstead Jones
To Tame a Rebel by Georgina Gentry
While Passion Sleeps by Shirlee Busbee
Lord Liar by Laurie Grant
Lady in Red by Karen Hawkins
The Admiral's Bride by Suzanne Brockmann
Marry Me, Maddie by Rita Herron
Lady Ice by Joan Hohl
Dark Roots & Cowboy Boots by LuAnn McLane
Only My Dreams by Anna Blundy



New Book Group #36 February 15, 2013

Pairs:
Tara Taylor Quinn
     Father: Unknown and McGillus v.Wright
Tom Clancy
     Power Play: Cold War (paperback) and Power Play: Ruthless.com (audio cassette tapes)
Singles:
Timeline by Michael Crichton
Bride of Shadow Canyon by Stacey Kayne
The Trailsman: Texas Lead Slingers by Jon Sharpe
Always a Lady by Sharon Sala
Her Wedding Wish by Jillian Hart


New Book Group #35 January 11, 2013
*asterisks indicate lighter, smaller books possibly suitable for international mailing 

Pairs
Mary Baxter
    His Touch and One Summer Evening
Singles-- I found a couple of boxes of romances (a lot of Harlequins) that I haven't gotten to read over the past 8 years so... I will send them off to others to read!
Never Say Never Again by Tori Carrington
*Merger of Fortunes by Peggy Moreland
*The Banker's Convenient Wife by Lynne Graham
* The Millionaire's Daughter by Sophie Weston


New Book Group #34 December 7, 2012--- (All gone)

New Book Group #33 October 27, 2012
*asterisks indicate lighter, smaller books possibly suitable for international mailing

SINGLES - CHRISTMAS TITLES (Better sizes for international) 
*Deck the Halls by Arlene James (slight spine creasing)
*A Holiday Prayer by Deb Kastner  (slight spine creasing)


New Book Group #32 October 5, 2012

- Oops upside down book! NOTE This book has dog bite damage; it is missing half back cover and the edges of pages in the back third of the book... it does not effect the text but I will understand if no one wants this one - A Courtesans Guide to Getting Your Man by Susan Donovan and Celeste Bradley
Please Remember This by Katleen Giles Seidel
The Boy's Tale (Sister Frevisse Medieval Mysteries) by Margaret Frazer


New Book Group #31 August 31, 2012
I pulled some more books from several of my boxes.

An Honorable Man by Rosemary Rogers (spine creases)


New Book Group #30 July 27, 2012
This time I pulled some books from one of my older boxes.
*asterisks indicate lighter, smaller books possibly suitable for international mailing

The Willful Widow by Valerie King (spine wear)
Wild Escapade by Lisa Bingham
Dancing on Snowflakes by Jane Bonander (postage too much - replaced with GC)

New Book Group #29 June 29, 2012
*asterisks indicate lighter, smaller books possibly suitable for international mailing

Magic: The Gathering Distant Planes, An Anthology
*One is the Lonliest Number - Tom Clancey's Net Force

New Book Group #28 May 18, 2012 (All gone)

New book Group #27 April 13, 2012 (All gone)

New book Group #26 March 2, 2012--- (All gone)

New Group #25 January 12, 2012---(All gone)

New Group #24 Pick Books November 25, 2011---(All gone)

New Group #23 Pick Books October 14, 2011
I tried to pick some books that would be good for October -
Halloween or dark minded.
Ghost Writer (Shivers #3) by M.D. Spenser


New Group #22 Pick Books September 2, 2011---(All gone)

New Group #21 of Pick Books July 29, 2011
Mallory's Oracle (Kathleen Mallory Novels) by Carol O'Connell

May, 2011 New Group of Pick books Group #20
Luciano's Luck by Jack Higgins - Audio Cassettes

3/25/11 I did get to set up a new group of books: Group #19
Primary Colors - audio tapes
*Note of Peril (black strip on cover)

2/19/11 Book Group #18- Pairs!---(All gone).

I have finally updated the intro and Entry paragraphs here:

If you saw the pictures posted of my bookshelves and boxes you know I do have lots of books! And that doesn't include the other eight or so boxes at my office!! And more books as I find deals too good to pass up! I am sharing my book bounty by these Friday Pick Giveaways.

I started Friday Pick in November 27, 2009 and in three years I have posted 33 groups of 16 (528) books to find new homes! (November 2012)

I periodically update the lists - deleting those won. You can still go to the Friday Pick list link to see older posts and the older lists book pictures if you want! I am happy to say that so far about 509 books have found new homes! YAY. I have to update my print out to check the exact number sent out - a few were never claimed.

Note rules here regarding international entries.

Because postage to overseas can be prohibitive I am willing to give a $5.00 book certificate to international winners - Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, ARe, TWRP, ClassAct Books, eTreasures, Desert Breeze, etc....you tell me where and I'll set it up. So for my overseas visitors your comment may indicate a smaller book and I'll check postage or note your choice of gift card.

I learned that The Book Depository does not ship to everywhere. The postage for some of the books to far away places runs between $5.00 and $6.00 and up. Since I would award $5.00 for The Book Depository to an international winner, as an alternative you may choose a smaller book and we will hope the postage will not exceed $6.00. If the postage is more, or if you want to pick a larger book and you are willing to pay any extra postage beyond the $6.00 I will work with you on that. This may not make a difference to many but if it helps one or two of you to give one of my books a home that will make me happy too. :o)

TO ENTER:

Leave a comment and tell me WHICH BOOK you would like to get from the Friday Pick lists.
CUT OFF TIME IS THURSDAY NIGHTS AT 10:00 PM CENTRAL so I do not have to stay up past midnight to do the winner post!
I will randomly pick two winners to announce Friday mornings with the next Pick post.
Automatic wins are those who requested the book four times and I did not note other people asking for that book during those weeks.
WINNERS PLEASE CHECK THE WIN POST ON FRIDAYS AND fill in the Winner's Acceptance Form or email me at mesreads@gmail.com. [I will confirm receipt of the addresses- well I realize I haven't always done this. But if you filled out the form and don't get the book within two weeks nudge me with an email please!] If I have the winners e-mail I will send a reminder in a week or so....

Thanks for helping these books find new homes!!

Repeating this helpful blog tip: You can right click on a link and you will be given the choice to open the link in a new window or tab so you do not navigate away from the screen you are on!! I use this all the time!

1/14/11 New List #17--- (All gone)

12/3/10 Book Set: #16
Sleight of Hand by Robin Hathaway
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown  (postage too much - replaced with GC)

List #15---(All gone)

List #14---(All gone)

Here is set #13 of Used books! ---(All gone)

Group #12---(All gone)

Group #11
Cat's Eyewitness by Rita Mae Brown
Alien Chronicles - The Crimson Claw by Deborah Chester

List #1
Circle of Stars by Anna Lee Waldo

Pick #2---(All gone)

Pick #3---(All gone)

Pick #4
Talking God by Tony Kellerman

Pick #5
See Jane Lead by Lois P. Frankel
Cold Hit by Linda Fairstein - Audio Tapes

Pick #6---(All gone)

Pick #7
Prey by Michael Crichton - Audio Tape
Princess Charming by Jane Heller (slightly creased)

Pick #8
(sc) = slightly creased on binding otherwise all in good shape
The Jury by Steve Martini - Audio Tapes
No Safe Place by Richard North Patterson - Audio Tapes

Pick #9
On Treacherous Ground by Earl Murray
Guardian by Dee Henderson - Audio Tapes
Time to Hunt by Stephen Hunter - Audio Tapes

Pick #10---(All Gone)

Book Review: Magnificent Devices, Steampunk Adventure by Shelley Adina

This is full of action and impressive steampunk creations.
Magnificent Devices, a steampunk adventure novel (Magnificent Devices)
by Shelley Adina

• File Size: 397 KB
• Print Length: 231 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1939087023
• Publisher: Moonshell Books (October 4, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.

Genre: Steampunk
My Rating: 4.75 of 5.0

Book Description
Publication Date: October 4, 2012
An air voyage to remember turns into a disaster no one may survive.
With her orphaned charges, Lady Claire Trevelyan joins the Earl of Dunsmuir’s family on an airship voyage to the Americas. If she can stay out of Lord James Selwyn’s way until her eighteenth birthday, she will be of age and cannot be forced into marriage. What she doesn’t know is that Lord James is in the Americas, too, with Andrew Malvern closing in on him—and the wonderful device he stole. But when a storm cripples the airship and air pirates swoop in like carrion birds, Claire and the children must live by their wits to make their way across a harsh landscape. Will Andrew ever see her again and right the wrong he believes he has done? Will Lord James succeed in his monumental thievery? And how exactly does Rosie the chicken evade the soup pot?
Tighten your goggles, pull on your gloves, and prepare yourself for stratagems and strangeness in the third book in the series, Magnificent Devices!

Review:
Lady Claire and her young ‘flock’ of orphaned children travel in a fancy airship to America on the way to Canada. A storm blows them off course and cripples the ship allowing them to be captured by air pirates. When the pirates board their airship one of Claire’s companions appears to have betrayed them. The Mopsies and Tigg manage to hide to become a hidden weapon.

Claire ends up imprisoned by the head pirate in the Texican Territory. A flash flood presents a chance for escape with Claire being rescued by the pirate’s step-daughter, Alice. Alice is an inventor too, and surprised to learn that Claire works for Alice’s idol, Andrew Malvern. Alice maintains the pirate airship and creates automatons from the scrap pieces of ships diverted by the pirates. The pirates plan to divert another airship, one with Lord James who is coming after Claire.

Claire and the Mopsies have to make a daring break on another personal flying contraption that Alice built. They are all but lost in the desert until Alice and Jake swoop down to rescue them. Claire and Andrew are reunited at Santa Fe but the danger of the pirates and Lord James continues to follow them. Lord James kidnaps Claire and heads out on the railroad. while Andrew is put into a pinnacle cell - not a true jail cell but a cave on top of a mountain outgrowth. If the prisoner doesn’t roll off to his death he will starve there.  More fancy flying and daring rescues are needed to save Andrew and Claire.


The steampunk elements really abound in this story.  There is the fancy airship complete with moonglobe lighting and gondola cabins. Then there are the rough creations of the pieced together pirate ship, automatons and so much more. The plot is full of danger and action and woven throughout is the warmth of the children and the sweet romance building. There was a minor head hop that I noticed mostly because I was listening to the Kindle read to me. But it was a minor bump and didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book.

I actually read this book, number 3, first and this one is my favorite. It was a great read on its own but I do think it would have been better read in order. I found this completely delightful.

I won books 1-3 of this series.

Book Review: Her Own Devices: A Steampunk Adventure (Magnivient Devices) by Shelley Adina

I love this series!

Her Own Devices: A steampunk adventure novel (Magnificent Devices)

Shelley Adina

• File Size: 384 KB
• Print Length: 223 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 146813437X
• Publisher: Shelley Adina (December 22, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.

Genre: Steampunk
My Rating: 4.5 of 5.0

Book Description

Publication Date: December 22, 2011

Book 2 of the Magnificent Devices series!

Escaped lunatics, lost children, vengeful lords, and love. Really, the situation is becoming quite impossible.

Seventeen-year-old Lady Claire Trevelyan, left alone after the Arabian Bubble financial disaster claims home and family, now leads the cleverest gang in the London underworld. Between outwitting a rival gang, inventing a device that will net her and her scientist employer worldwide fame, and keeping her mother from marrying her off, she can almost forget that a powerful lord wants to get closer ... and if he succeeds, can destroy it all with a single word ...

Review:
Book two picks up and continues the story of Lady Claire - once a young girl of seventeen who is was scheduled to make her curtsey to the Queen a few weeks before her father died and she ended up living on the streets. Now she has become a lady of resources, known as “The Lady of Devices” with a ‘flock’ of orphans as her chargers and helpers.

She has begun working with Andrew, a young scientist who is looking to create a better combustion engine. Andrew does the design experiments while Lord James, his partner and the money man, talk to railroad moguls who would be interested in buying the invention if proven.

Claire learns that the lightning rifle she took from a rival gang has a mechanism that was designed by another female scientist. Unfortunately the brilliant Dr. Craig was shunned by her peers and committed to Bedlam. Lady Claire sets out to visit the Doctor and, learning that she has been wrongfully ‘imprisoned’, arranges a break out with her clever crew.

Lord James coerces Claire to become his fiancé. She reluctantly agrees with the terms that it will be a four year engagement while she attends University and she will get her name on the Patent for the new engine. Claire figures the engagement will protect her place in society and keep her mother at bay. That is until Claire learns that Lord James has no intention of keeping to the terms Claire set. He has gone to her mother and arranged to marry her before she can gain her independence at 18.

Claire and Andrew grow closer as they incorporate Dr. Craig's device to their engine. But now Claire must flee London to stay away from James. A surprising visit brings a family reunion and new friends, Lord Dunsmuir and his wife Lady Davina, who offer Claire a way escape by not just any travel but a luxury airship, the Lady Lucy. They are even willing to bring along the children. As they make plans for their next adventure to Canada news comes in of theft and betrayal.

This is a lively, fun read. Lady Claire is wonderfully brave and resourceful and the children, plus chicken, add spunk and sass.  I am enjoying the storyline and ready for the adventure in Book 3.

I am so glad I won books 1-3 in this series.

Mailbox Monday May 13, 2013

Welcome to Mailbox Monday.
For MAY: the Mailbox Monday Tour host is Abi at 4 the Love of Books. 
Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs.  This Meme started with Marcia at A Girl and Her Books (fka The Printed Page) but is now hosted at Mailbox Monday and through various blog hosts.

Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists. 

I received two Audio review titles this past week.
Are your mailbox and TBR piles blooming?

REVIEW

I received two Audio review books from AudioBook Jukebox.
Audio Downloads:

Inherit the Stars, The Giants Series, book 1
by James P. Hogan

The Empty Mirror
by James Lincoln Collier

Still Lots of requests I need to reply to.

Won

None this week.

Purchased

None this week.

Free

I downloaded only a handful of free Kindle Titles linked through Free Par-tay, Inspired Reads, Pixel of Ink and Kindle Review.