Stacking The Shelves #1

Hello Lovelies! I hope you are having a good Sunday so far. Thanks for stopping by to see what I got this week :)

The Books:

From Work:
The Precious One by Marisa De Los Santos
Powerless by Tera Lynn Childs & Tracy Deebs
Girl In The Moonlight by Charles Dubow 

Borrowed From Work:
Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story by David Leviathan

Bought: 
Personal Diet Journal

Again thank you so much for stopping by. Let me know what you think of the books above. If you have read these specifically or anything by these authors. Also leave me links to your hauls and stacking the shelves below, I love to see what you all are reading! :)

Cover Reveal: Set In Stone by Rachel Robinson

We are so excited to bring you the Cover Reveal for Rachel Robinson's SET IN STONE!! SET IN STONE is the standalone companion novel to the Rachel's International Bestseller, CRAZY GOOD. Be sure to add SET IN STONE to your Goodreads TBR pile and grab your copy April 9th!!    

SET IN STONE Synopsis: A standalone companion novel to the International Bestseller, CRAZY GOOD. There is something all too vague about second chances. What happens when your utterly perfect first chance never really ends? What if it’s stolen? Bull-nosed attorney Morganna Sterns knows what she wants. Self assured, powerful, and independent, she finds herself struggling to find balance between honoring what has been stolen, and deciding if her second chance is going to end just as tragically. Steven Warner is a Navy SEAL with nothing to lose. His overt humor and charm paired with his lethal skill set make him a perfect catch--for the right type of woman. His world is littered with relationships, but only one stands the test of time. Competing with a ghost is hard. Especially when that ghost is a teammate: his brother at arms. It’s not, “it is what it is.” It’s what you make it. What you, and only you decide it should be. Navy SEALs never make the same mistake t twice. Will Morganna?  

Add SET IN STONE on Goodreads

   
 About Rachel Robinson: Rachel Robinson grew up in a small, quiet town full of loud talkers. Her words were always only loud on paper. She has been writing stories and creating characters for as long as she can remember. After living on the west coast for many years she recently moved to Virginia Beach, VA. Crazy Good, her contemporary romance novel, is an International Amazon bestseller.    

Website ** Facebook ** Twitter

 

 

 

What is Language to You?

To start off, the actual definition of Language is Communication of thoughts and feelings through a system of arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, or written symbols. But what is your definition? What is mine? We all have such different minds, so if you asked a sample of people this same question you would get a multitude of answers.

You may want to know where I'm going with this. The big point is that language is the starting point of everything. We cannot talk without language, cannot write without language, and certainly cannot communicate with the world around us without language.

The important thing to know about language is that every culture has their own. Here in NH, the majority of us speak some form of English, but a few towns over in Lawrence, MA the primary language is Spanish, crazy right?

This leads me to talk about my favorite topic of all, BOOKS!

 One of my favorite things about Barnes & Noble, is that not only do they have a plethora of English books to choose from, since the area is primarily English. But there are also pretty good sized language sections to learn new ways to speak from French, and Italian all the way to Mandarin, and Japanese. We also have a huge Spanish books section which includes a smaller versions of all of the sections we have in the store filled with Spanish books.

The reason I love this is because not only do we give people the opportunity to read books in our language of English. We also give them the opportunity to read books in their own language as well. I feel this is important so that it shows how we allow different cultures into our community, and not just our own. I enjoy the fact that everyone feels as though they have a place in this world. That is how it should always be, and should never change. Lastly, another great resource for people wanting to learn a new language or just help them understand something a little better, Translation services like Smartling help provide an opportunity for people to read the same books all over the world in their language.

Review: We Should Hang Out Sometime by Josh Sundquist

We Should Hang Out Sometime by Josh Sundquist
Publisher: Little Brown, Books for Young Readers
Release Date: December 23, 2014
Book Format: Hardcover
# of Pages: 336
Synopsis: A bright, poignant, and deeply funny autobiographical account of coming of age as an amputee cancer survivor, from Josh Sundquist: Paralympic ski racer, YouTube star, and motivational speaker.


Josh Sundquist only ever had one girlfriend.
For twenty-three hours.
In eighth grade.

Why was Josh still single? To find out, he tracked down the girls he had tried to date and asked them straight up: What went wrong?

The results of Josh's semiscientific, wholly hilarious investigation are captured here. From a disastrous Putt-Putt date involving a backward prosthetic foot, to his introduction to CFD (Close Fast Dancing), to a misguided "grand gesture" at a Miss America pageant, this story is about looking for love--or at least a girlfriend--in all the wrong places.

Meet The Author: (Taken From Goodreads)

 JOSH SUNDQUIST is a Paralympian, author, motivational speaker, and Halloween enthusiast.












My Review:
I borrowed this book from my work Barnes & Noble, and this is my honest review.

Before picking out this book, I had no idea anything about it or if it was even going to be good. My sole deciding factor was that I walked by a table a work that it was featured on, I picked it up, and the rest is history.

In the beginning I calculated how many pages I would have to read a day to have the book finished in the 2 week time period that I had before I had to return it back to work. It came out to be about 23 pages a day, and I have to say this just was not enough for me. I ended up reading many more pages then I needed to. I just couldn’t put them book down.

The premise behind this story was incredibly interesting. First Josh is introduced the religious home schooled boy who lost one of his legs due to cancer. Now do not get me wrong he is much more than this but this is sort of how he refers to himself a lot throughout the story. After we learn a little about this background, we jump into the list of girls he has put his heart on the line for, but was disappointed.

The first girl we meet is Sarah Stevens, whom I think was quite possibly one of the worst considering she said yes to dating Josh and then had one of her friends break up with him for her. I cannot say this is totally unexpected because I saw this happen quite a few times back in middle school, but I still felt awful for Josh when he was dumped by someone else. It had to really hurt considering how he felt about her. Liza Taylor Smith was one of the least interesting ones even though to Josh she was the most interesting. I feel like we just did not see enough of her to really get a feel for her and what his feelings for her were. Lastly; skipping a little ahead was Sasha, she by far was the worst for me. I just felt like she seemed so perfect and she seemed to like Josh, and then she gave him the cold shoulder after he traveled all the way to Las Vegas and never called him again. Sure I understand that this was one of the biggest night of her life but still no reason to be hurtful.

Now to talk about the few girls I liked; not that I did not like the girls above, but I just enjoyed these stories a little more. Francesca Marcelo, at first I was scared I totally thought she had no interest in Josh at all, but I slowly started to realize that she did like him, they just both happened to be shy. Evelyn Williamson was up next, she was pretty cool too. It’s crazy to think that many of these girls did like Josh he was just in such a weird place that he could not see it. Thats one of the reasons I felt bad.

I loved this book for a few reasons the first is because of the way the book was set up. I liked how the beginning of a new girl would show her name, the background, then after a few chapters it would be a hypothesis, and then the conclusion. Also, the author was able to recount basically his whole life story in a way that made it interesting to all of this readers. There was never a time when I felt like I was not connected to him as character. I always felt some kind of emotion whether it was laughter, sadness, or happiness I always felt something, which made this book an extremely good read for me.

Book Blitz: Love The Way You Lie by Skye Warren

Love The Way You Lie by Skye Warren
Release Date: March 12, 2015
Genres: Adult, Romance
Synopsis: A dark romance about the lies that lead us down…

I’ll do anything to get safe, even if that means working at the scariest club in town.

I’ll do anything to stay hidden, even if it means taking off my clothes for strangers.

I’ll do anything to be free. Except give him up. When he looks at me, I forget why I can’t have him. He’s beautiful and scarred. His body fits mine, filling the places where I’m hollow, rough where I am soft.

He’s the one man who wants to help me, but he has his own agenda. He has questions I can’t answer.

What are you afraid of?

You.

Book Links:

Goodreads

Amazon

Meet The Author:

Skye Warren is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author of dark romantic fiction. Her books are raw, sexual and perversely romantic.

Author links:
http://www.skyewarren.com/
https://www.facebook.com/skyewarren
https://twitter.com/skye_warren
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5339130.Skye_Warren
http://www.skyewarren.com/newsletter

AUTHOR INTERVIEW WITH SKYE WARREN
Can you introduce yourself and tell us what kind of books you write?
I’m Skye Warren, the New York Times bestselling author of dark romance! Thank you so much for the opportunity to share my new release, Love the Way You Lie. It explores taboo themes like betrayal and redemption, overlayed with suspense. If you’re up for something dangerous, disturbing and erotic, take a look…
What is Love the Way You Lie About?
Love the Way You Lie has a stripper heroine and a mysterious lone biker who is first her customer, then her lover, then her… well, you’ll have to read to find out. What you should know is that the book is dark, edgy, and sexy as hell.
This is the first book in a new series set in a strip club called The Grand.
Who is your favorite character in the book?
I love my heroes—their gruffness, their pain, their occasional cruelty. But I have a real soft spot for my heroines. So I would have to say I loved Honey the most. She is beaten down but determined, bent but not broken. For me that’s what strength is about.
What is the hardest part of writing for you?
Nothing and everything. I love the actual writing, coming up with a story and falling in love with them. But reader expectation is such a tough thing—it’s tough in any genre but has particular challenges for dark books. Even the word dark means different things to different readers. But ultimately I can only write the books I love and hope that my readers enjoy them.

What do you love about alpha heroes? Or anti-heroes, if that applies?

Why are these anti-heroes so damn appealing? Well, for one thing, they are tough and driven. They don’t take crap from anyone…even the heroine, sometimes. They often do follow their own code of honor, it just doesn’t necessarily match everyone else’s. But I think it’s something more elemental than that. A man who takes what he wants, damn the rules? Well…it’s plain sexy.
What makes a sex scene sexy to you? Or alternately, what do you do to write hot scenes?
I love a scene I can get lost in, both the physical sensations and the emotional resonance. And what I find most sexy is when power comes into play. Not with games, but where one side has the upper hand, the mingling of distrust and desire, of wariness and want.

What else should readers know about Love the Way You Lie?
There’s also a free prequel to the series coming. The best way to stay up to date about my releases is my newsletter here:
http://www.skyewarren.com/newsletter

Review: A Flower in the Snow by Mark G. Cosman

A Flower in the Snow by Mark G. Cosman 
Publisher: Solstice Publishing
Release Date: July 21, 2014
Book Format: Paperback
# of Pages: 177













Meet The Author (Taken from Goodreads)

Mark Cosman’s writing began when his daughter, Berlyn, was murdered at her high school prom party. His book, “A Flower in the Snow” contains the searing personal account of his daughter’s murder and its heart wrenching aftermath. His odyssey in search of answers to the most profound questions we ask ourselves brought Mark to also write “Descent of the Gods” and “The Kids from the River.” Fiction novels, the works dramatize the hidden consequences of our actions we unknowingly enter.


My Review:

Not to long ago I received an email from author Mark G. Cosman with the request to read a couple of his books. This review is for the book A Flower in the Snow, which is Marks side of the brutal murder of his teenage daughter, Berlyn.

The book starts off immediately with the family learning of Berlyn’s death and then having to deal with it. We meet her father, and the author of this book, Mark. As well as her mother and sister, Susan and Morgan. As the book progresses we see the struggles the family goes through. For instance, Morgan struggles with school so much that her parents had to pull her out all together and home school her. Berlyn’s mother seemed to take the news just as bad we saw this when Cosman mentions in the book how he could see his wife struggling in the sense that she was not the same wife he had married. This might sound weird but I believe he meant it in a way that his wife was just hurting not that she had actually morphed into a completely new person all together.

An interesting part to the book were the scenes where we learned a lot about Mark and his wifes past, as well as his past alone. We first found that Cosman believed his daughters death ultimately went back to the daughter that him and his wife gave up for adoption. Reading that was absolutely heartbreaking. I cannot imagine how hard it is to lose a daughter, and then on top of that believe it is potentially your fault.

After this chunk of the book we learn about Mark’s childhood at home with his mother, father and estranged brother Jay. I have to say I was very disheartened reading about how Jay was treated. I do not know if thats just how disorders and things like that were dealt with back then but either way I felt awful reading how he was treated. I wonder if the family has any contact with him to this day. I feel like I would maybe resent my mother and stepfather but that is just me.

Overall, I was intrigued reading this book and I am happy to have had the opportunity to read, and learn about Berlyn’s life, and death, as well as the rest of the families story too.

Review: Still Alice by Lisa Geneova

Still Alice by Lisa Genova
Publisher: Pocket Books
Release Date: December 16, 2014
Book Format: Paperback
# of Pages: 400
Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads)
In Lisa Genova's extraordinary New York Times bestselling novel, an accomplished professor diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease learns that her worth is comprised of more than her ability to remember.
Now a major motion picture from Sony Pictures Classics starring Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, Kate Bosworth, and Kristen Stewart!

Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. At fifty years old, she's a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard and a world-renowned expert in linguistics with a successful husband and three grown children. When she becomes increasingly disoriented and forgetful, a tragic diagnosis changes her life and her relationship with her family and the world forever.

At once beautiful and terrifying, Still Alice is a moving and vivid depiction of life with early-onset Alzheimer's disease that is as compelling as A Beautiful Mind and as unforgettable as Ordinary People.

 Meet The Author:

I'm a Harvard-trained Neuroscientist, a Meisner-trained actress, and an entirely untrained writer!

My first novel, STILL ALICE, winner of the 2008 Bronte Prize, nominated for 2010 Indies Choice Debut Book of the Year by the American Booksellers Association, and winner of the 2011 Bexley Book of the Year Award spent over 40 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. It has been translated into 25 languages and was chosen as one of the thirty titles for World Book Night 2013.

Originally self-published, I sold it out of the trunk of my car for almost a year before it was bought at auction by Simon & Schuster.

LEFT NEGLECTED, also a New York Times Bestseller, was a #1 Indie Next Pick, the Borders “Book You’ll Love” for January 2011, and the #4 Indie Reading Group Pick for summer 2011, and a Richard & Judy Book Club Pick.

LOVE ANTHONY, also a New York Times bestseller, is about autism. It was an October 2012 Indie Next pick and a People Magazine Great Read. USA Today calls it “beautifully written and poignant to the point of heartbreak.”

"After I read STILL ALICE I wanted to stand up and tell a train full of strangers, YOU HAVE TO GET THIS BOOK." - Beverly Beckham, Boston Sunday Globe

“Lisa Genova is the Michael Crichton of brain science. What she proved with STILL ALICE, she proves again with LEFT NEGLECTED. This is huge, powerful human drama at its elegant best."

-Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of The Deep End of the Ocean

www.lisagenova.com

My Review: 
I bought this book on my own and this is my honest opinion of it.

Before purchasing this book, I had no knowledge of the following it had. After seeing it for the first time I did a little research of my own and found that there was a new film starring Julianne Moore. I had heard that the movie was amazing and that Moore actually won an award for it, so I knew I just had to pick it up and read it.

Still Alice is about a middle aged women who is suddenly diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's. The novel goes on to describe Alice and her family's journey to deal with her disease. My first thought while reading this book was the fact that I felt Alice and John's relationship was a little distant, but only in parts. There are scenes in the book where I see the love that they have with each other, but there were other parts when I felt sad because they did not seem to be in the relationship as much as other times, but I guess that is just a given in relationships.

I had very few issues with this book, but there were certainly some. My only big problem was the fact that Alice was described as having black hair in the book, but in the movie she is a red head. I am not sure whose decision that was but it was not a very appealing one especially to those who have read the book before seeing the movie.

One of the reasons I loved this book was the amount of emotion that filled the pages of Still Alice. It did not matter if it was negative or positive emotion any or all of it made the book. There was a point in the book when Alice was upset about something with her disease, and instead of comforting her John just went off to work. We can see there that maybe her disease is affecting him in different ways than it is her. There was also a point in the book when John and Alice were on the drive home from one of her appointments and he silently cried the whole way home. That showed that he might have hard time showing the emotion and the hurt he felt but he did have it.

Overall, I made a good decision on buying this book because I could not put it down. I read it from dusk until dawn. I searched everywhere for a book light just so I could read even after the lights had been shut off in my house. This was an amazing read and I would recommend it to everyone and anyone.  

Book Blitz: Captivated (Courts of Light and Darknkess #1) w/Giveaway

Captivated by Sarah Makela
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Publisher: Kissa Press LLC
Publication Date: February 20, 2015
Synopsis: When a mercenary whose purpose is to dispose of wicked Unseelie fae meets a dark elf, she’ll question her mission and become captivated...

After her family was killed by a dark elf, mercenary Honora Butler’s purpose is the disposal of wicked faeries, elves and other Unseelie beings, but she’ll find herself questioning her mission when she meets Brennan, a dark elf who doesn’t conform to what she believed his kind were like.

Brennan O’Niall doesn’t know what it is about Honora that makes him crave her, but he wants to find out. However, when she’s charged with the murder of a friend, he’ll have to discover the truth and decide just how much she means to him.

Book Links: 

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Goodreads

Meet The Author:

NYT & USA Today bestselling author Sarah Mäkelä loves her fiction dark, magical, and passionate. She is a paranormal romance author, but she’s written all over the romance spectrum with cyberpunk, sci-fi, fantasy, urban fantasy...even a sweet contemporary romance!

A life-long paranormal fan, she still sleeps with a night-light. In her spare time, she reads sexy books, watches scary movies (and Ghost Adventures), and plays computer games with her husband. When she gets the chance, she loves traveling the world too.

Author Links:

Website

Twitter

Facebook 

Goodreads

Excerpt:

Gritting her teeth, Honora Butler sneaked farther into the dark, snowy forest. Danger lurked within the shadows, and she would kill or be killed. Death didn’t intimidate her anymore. She knew it too well.
Everyone she’d loved had been taken from her. The only thing she cared about now was destroying those who had ruined her life.
Snow crunched beneath the soles of her knee-high leather boots. The risks of killing those monsters were great, but she didn’t care. When she was young, the Mercenary Guild had taken her in. They’d seen her abilities and her determination. They’d trained her, given her a chance when she’d wanted only to die, and now she did what she bloody well could to make sure the dark beings of the Unseelie Court hurt no one else.
A horrified scream erupted ahead, beckoning her deeper into the forest. It had to have been caused by her prey. Picking up her pace, she pulled a throwing knife from its sheath. Her magic surged into the blade, filling it with power and making the metal white-hot.
The trees broke into a clearing. The cause of the cries stood in the dirt road. A woman cowered on the ground while a short, stocky man dressed in blood red with a matching hat sneered at her. He looked to be having far too good a time.
“I have a husband and kids. Please, don’t hurt me,” the woman whimpered. “My master...he’ll—”
The Fear Dearg snorted and crossed his arms in front of him. Stroking his bushy beard, he stared down his crooked nose at the terrified woman as if pondering what to do first.
Honora doubted the woman was in immediate danger. The Red Man mostly engaged in cruel pranks on those he sought, but that wouldn’t stop her from killing him. Her mission in life was to rid the world of malevolence. No matter what.
She slid from the trees, taking one quiet step after another. “Na dean maggadh fum,” she said. Those words, ‘Do not mock me,’ were the best chance she had to take him down without a problem.
The Fear Dearg jerked his gaze to Honora. His lips curled back into a snarl at the interruption. “So be it. Now go on. Get out of here. Can’t you see I’m busy?” He stared at her blankly, waiting. “What? You want my favor and prosperity? One of those bold adventurers? Wait for your turn.”
Just like that, he returned his focus to the woman, grabbing for her dress.
With a snap of her wrist, Honora sent the throwing knife sailing through the air. A wash of blood arced in a thick spray as the Fear Dearg collapsed, the knife lodged between his eyes.
Shrieking, the woman scurried backwards from the corpse. Her eyes were wide and horrified at the sight of the dead faerie. “What have you done?” she asked, glancing Honora’s way. Shaking her head, she reached for her large basket with foodstuffs that lay on its side. Most of the food had fallen out, but the woman didn’t bother gathering it. She just took the basket, then ran off down the dirt road.
What had that been about?
Honora watched the woman until she disappeared around the curve of the path. She walked over to the dead Red Man, then tugged her blade out of his skull. It came away easily, blood dripping off it in great crimson drops. She wiped it clean on his jacket before tucking the knife back in its sheath.
Her stomach rumbled. On the ground was an unsoiled loaf of bread from the woman’s fallen food. She stripped off her bloody gloves and crouched. After brushing off a few leaves, she tore a piece from it and lifted it to her lips.
In the distance, she heard a faint noise like that of a large flock of birds beating their wings. That couldn’t be right. Birds weren’t typically active at night there. Yet the sound grew louder.
The sudden realization of what it was punched her in the gut. She dropped the bread and raced after the woman. Honora needed to find the safety of shelter. She couldn’t be out here when the Sluagh—restless spirits of the dead—flew over. What they did was worse than death. They captured their victims’ souls.
Behind her, the cries became impossibly louder. She didn’t have much time at all. She had yet to spot any homes or places to hide and knew if she were spotted, she would be connected with the murder of the Fear Dearg. They’d hunt her down. She wouldn’t be safe unless she found somewhere soon.
 

Giveaway:

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