Friday56: The Secret Cave

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of Storytime with Tonya and Friends' blog.
* Post a link along with your post back to Tonya and Friends.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.


Closest Book: The Secret Cave: Discovering Lascaux
Author: by Emily Arnold McCully
Page 56, sentence 5: (since the closest book has only around 40 pages - here is the last sentence.)
The cave had changed their lives forever.

WWW Wednesdays (October 27)

Hosted by Should Be Reading
To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…
* What are you currently reading?
* What did you recently finish reading?
* What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

The Scorch Trials (Maze Runner #2) by James Dashner

What did you recently finish reading?

Brain Jack by Brian Falkner

What do you think you’ll read next?

Glimmerglass by Jenna Black

"Waiting On" Wednesday: The Serpent's Coil

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Prophecy of Days Book #2: The Serpent's Coil
by Christy Raedeke
Published: July, 2011

Summary of PROPHECY OF DAYS, BOOK ONE:


THE DAYKEEPER’S GRIMOIRE is the story of Caity Mac Fireland, a girl from San Francisco whose parents drag her to an isle off the coast of Scotland to manage some family property. Caity finds that a Mayan relic is concealed there, intentionally left centuries ago by Mayan Daykeepers in an attempt to keep their profound knowledge about the year 2012 alive into the current era.

As she delves into this world of secret knowledge, Caity is helped along by a visiting family friend and Feng Shui master, Uncle Li; a Mayan elder named Bolon; and Mr. Papers, her pet monkey that communicates through origami. A handsome Scottish lad gets pulled into the intrigue, as do several other people with questionable motives and loyalties. Caity must weave together a tapestry of information in order to make her radical discovery, a mystery protected by an elite coterie of power-brokers who influence world events. Caity’s twenty-first century mind is put to the test as she tries to uncover the answer to an ancient riddle while trying to outwit this powerful group that will stop at nothing to control the secret, and her.

La Femme Readers: Random Magic Halloween Tour Prizes

In celebration of Sasha Soren's, Random Magic Halloween Tour and Blog Hop, she is kindly giving away not one, but two prizes!
Enter HERE to win:

First Random Magic Halloween Tour Prize
*Gift-wrapped first edition, Random Magic
*Autographed copy
*First edition print
*Pretty and personalized gift-wrapping
(if you win this prize, please let La Femme Readers know your favorite color!)
*Random Magic postcards (2)
*Bookmark and other goodies
*Thank you note from Sasha

Contest Details:
-One person will win prizes stated above.
-This contest is INTERNATIONAL.
-Deadline will be on November 2, 2010 at midnight EST time.

Second Random Magic Halloween Tour Prize:
Madame Alexander Doll

Contest Details:
-One person will win doll pictured above.
-This contest is for US residents only.
-Deadline will be on November 2, 2010 at midnight EST time.

Teaser Tuesdays: Brain Jack

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

~*Grab your current read
~*Open to a random page
~*Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Brain Jack by Brian Falkner


Right now, as you read this prologue, I am sifting through the contents of your computer. Yes, your computer. You. The one holding the book.


~* Page 1

Friday56: Mackenzie's Mountain

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of Storytime with Tonya and Friends' blog.
* Post a link along with your post back to Tonya and Friends.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.


Closest Book: Mackenzie's Mountain
Author: Linda Howard
Page 56, sentence 5:
Wolf made a sound that was almost a growl, but Mary stared at him until he jerked the money from his wallet and threw it on the counter.

"Waiting On" Wednesday: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:
Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn, David Levithan
Published: October 26th 2010

From Amazon:
Dash and Lily, 16, find themselves on their own in Manhattan at Christmas. Dash is alone by choice–he's told each of his divorced parents that he's spending the holiday with the other, leaving them both to take vacations out of town. Lily's parents are taking the honeymoon they couldn't afford when they got married. They think that Lily is in the capable hands of her older brother, but he's less interested in her than in his new boyfriend, and then he gets sick and spends most of the holiday in bed. He does, however, start in motion the activity that is central to the story. It involves a red Moleskine notebook with a list of literary clues that Lily leaves in the stacks at the Strand bookstore. Bookish and erudite Dash finds it and is intrigued enough to follow Lily's lead and leave some clues of his own. The dares in the book's title refer to innocent things such as going to various crowded places like Macy's and FAO Schwartz to pick up messages. As the dares go on, the teens reveal more and more about themselves in the pages of the notebook, until they finally meet under the worst possible circumstances.

WWW Wednesdays (October 20)

Hosted by Should Be Reading
To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…
* What are you currently reading?
* What did you recently finish reading?
* What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

Styx's Storm by Lora Leigh

What did you recently finish reading?

The Valcourt Heiress by Catherine Coulter

What do you think you’ll read next?

Sphinx's Queen by Esther M. Friesner

A-Z Wednesday - K

Welcome to A-Z Wednesday!!
To join, here's all you have to do:
Go to your stack of books and find an author whose first or last name starts with the letter of the week.
Post:
1~ a photo of the book
2~ title and synopsis
3~ link (Amazon, Barnes and Noble etc.)
4~ Go to Reading At The Beach and leave your link in the comments.
If you've already reviewed the book, add it or the link to your post.

This week's letter is: "K"

Dark Life by Kat Falls


Summary from Amazon
The oceans rose up, swallowing up the lowlands. Earthquakes shattered the continents, toppling entire regions into the rising water. Now, humans live packed into stack cities. The only ones with any space of their own are those who live on the ocean floor: the Dark Life.

Ty has spent his whole life living deep undersea, helping his family farm the ocean floor. But when outlaws attack his homestead, Ty finds himself in a fight to save the only home he has ever known. Joined by Gemma, a girl from the Topside who has come subsea to look for her brother, Ty ventures into the frontier’s rough underworld and discovers some dark secrets to Dark Life ... secrets that threaten to destroy everything.

My review is HERE

Teaser Tuesday: The Left Hand of God

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

~*Grab your current read
~*Open to a random page
~*Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

The Left Hand of God (Thomas Cale #1) by Paul Hoffman

The ruthless soldier who was once a byword for rapacious conquest had became a man in late middle age who wanted a quiet life where he would never have to be freezing cold one week, dying of thirst the next, or dreading, as he once had drunkenly admitted to Vipond, having his guts waved about on a billhook by some spavined peasant who managed to get in a lucky blow.
He had never confessed as much to anyone, but his real distaste for war had set in after a winter spent starving in the ice fields of Stetl, where he had been reduced to eating the remains of his much-loved regimental sergeant major.

~* Page 162

Ruined by Simone Elkeles

Available exclusively through Borders Simone Elkeles's 'How to Ruin' series combined into one book.

For one brief moment I thought my wish came true...

Paranormal Romance Author - Guest Post with Robin Cain

Want to know about blood spatter patterns? What infests a body after death?
Go HERE and read Margaret West's Guest Post with Robin Cain author of When Dreams Bleed
One lucky reader who leaves a comment, links the blog with Robin Cain's guest spot on their blog or FB page and sends Robin a copy of their link to robin@robincain.com will receive a paperback of her book and a $10 itunes card.


When Dreams Bleed by Robin Cain
Read an excerpt at Robin's website.

Fire and Ice Giveaway - MATCHED inspired vintage compact

Matched by Ally Condie
To Be Published November 30th 2010

The ETSY giveaway goes with the book MATCHED by Ally Condie and is inspired by the compact she receives at her Match banquet which belonged to her grandmother. Generously donated by Etsy seller - 2007Musarra


To Enter to Win: Leave a comment at Fire and Ice's blog HERE

Friday56: Vertical Run

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of Storytime with Tonya and Friends' blog.
* Post a link along with your post back to Tonya and Friends.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.


Closest Book: Vertical Run
Author: by Joseph R. Garber
Page 56, sentence 5:
Nobody looks at the telephone man. He's part of the furniture

"Waiting On" Wednesday: The Gift (Witch & Wizard #2)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

The Gift (Witch & Wizard #2) by James Patterson
Published December 13th 2010

From Goodreads:
When Whit & Wisty were imprisoned by the wicked forces of the totalitarian regime known as the New Order, they were barely able to escape with their lives. Now part of a hidden community of teens like themselves, Whit and Wisty have established themselves as leaders of the Resistance, willing to sacrifice anything to save kids kidnapped and brutally imprisoned by the New Order.

But the One has other plans in store for them: He needs Wisty, for she is "The One Who Has the Gift." While trying to figure out what that means, Whit and Wisty's suspenseful adventures through Overworld and Shadowland lead to a jaw-dropping climax and conclusion: the highly-anticipated fulfillment of the heart-pounding opening prologue of book one... The Execution of the Allgoods.

Also see blog post:
James Patterson's "Witch & Wizard" - Banned Materials

WWW Wednesdays (October 13)

Hosted by Should Be Reading
To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…
* What are you currently reading?
* What did you recently finish reading?
* What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

The Left Hand of God (Thomas Cale #1) by Paul Hoffman

What did you recently finish reading?

The Lucifer Code by Charles Brokaw

What do you think you’ll read next?

Torment (Fallen #2) by Lauren Kate

A-Z Wednesday - J

Welcome to A-Z Wednesday!!
To join, here's all you have to do:
Go to your stack of books and find an author whose first or last name starts with the letter of the week.
Post:
1~ a photo of the book
2~ title and synopsis
3~ link (Amazon, Barnes and Noble etc.)
4~ Go to Reading At The Beach and leave your link in the comments.
If you've already reviewed the book, add it or the link to your post.

This week's letter is: "J"

The Clan of the Cave Bear (Earth's Children #1) by Jean M. Auel


Summary from Goodreads
When her parents are killed by an earthquake, 5-year-old Ayla wanders through the forest completely alone. Cold, hungry, and badly injured by a cave lion, the little girl is as good as gone until she is discovered by a group who call themselves the Clan of the Cave Bear. This clan, left homeless by the same disaster, have little interest in the helpless girl who comes from the tribe they refer to as the "Others." Only their medicine woman sees in Ayla a fellow human, worthy of care. She painstakingly nurses her back to health--a decision that will forever alter the physical and emotional structure of the clan. Although this story takes place roughly 35,000 years ago, its cast of characters could easily slide into any modern tale. The members of the Neanderthal clan, ruled by traditions and taboos, find themselves challenged by this outsider, who represents the physically modern Cro-Magnons. And as Ayla begins to grow and mature, her natural tendencies emerge, putting her in the middle of a brutal and dangerous power struggle.

Special note: The long-awaited sixth and final book:
The Land of Painted Caves by Jean Auel will be published March 29th 2011!

Teaser Tuesdays: The Lucifer Code

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

~*Grab your current read
~*Open to a random page
~*Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

The Lucifer Code by Charles Brokaw


The man held the manuscript in his manicured hands. A gun butt showed at his belt line.

~* page 125

A Crack in the Sky by Mark Peter Hughes

The Dystopian Reading Challenge is hosted by Bart's Bookshelf
October 1, 2010 through December 19th 2010.

This is book 4/5 in the reading Dystopian challenge:
A Crack in the Sky (Greenhouse Chronicles) by Mark Peter Hughes



Summary from Goodreads:
Thirteen-year-old Eli Papadopoulos is worried. Even though he’s a member of the most powerful family in the world. Even though his grandfather founded InfiniCorp, the massive corporation that runs everything in the bustling dome-cities. Even though InfiniCorp ads and billboards are plastered everywhere, proclaiming:

DON'T WORRY! INFINICORP IS TAKING CARE OF EVERYTHING!

Recently, Eli noticed that there’s something wrong with the artificial sky. It keeps shorting out, displaying strange colors and random images. And though the Department of Cool and Comfortable Air is working overtime, the dome-city is hotter than it’s ever been.
Eli has been raised to believe that the dome-cities are safe, that the important thing is to keep working and consuming, and that everyone is secure and comfortable in InfiniCorp’s capable hands.
But now he begins asking questions.
All of a sudden, operatives from a dangerous band of terrorists keep contacting him. The Friends of Gustavo—or Foggers—want to tear down everything InfiniCorp has created. They promise Eli that they have the truth he seeks—if he’s brave enough to handle it.
Eli isn’t convinced. And he’s about to find out that in the dome-cities, being a Papadopoulos isn’t enough to save a rule-breaker like him from being sent far away to learn right-thinking. In his new home, the Tower, Eli meets Tabitha, once at the top of her Internship class, now a forgotten slave. Together, and with help from Eli’s beloved pet mongoose, Marilyn, they just might be able to escape . . . and try to make a life for themselves in the scorched wilderness outside the domes.


I don't know how many installments the author plans but this is only the beginning and it still reads like he threw every dystopian trope in a pot, stirred and served it up.
Well except for Marilyn; the telepathic, deus ex machina AKA mongoose, whose POV covers a few chapters. That's new.

I'll read the sequels simply to find out where this story leads but this has been my least favorite book I've read for the challenge.

Friday56: Cloaked in Red

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of Storytime with Tonya and Friends' blog.
* Post a link along with your post back to Tonya and Friends.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.


Closest Book: Cloaked in Red
Author: Vivian Vande Velde
Page 56, sentence 5:
"Oh, that's so kind," Granny said. "It is difficult to peel vegetables when one has four feet and no hands."

Book Whisperer: Ivy Devlin's Low Red Moon Interview and Giveaway

Book Whisperer is hosting a giveaway of Ivy Devlin's Low Red Moon.

Enter HERE and include your email address and what is your favorite werewolf story for your entry.



Rules: Must be US resident to participate, and must leave email with your favorite selection.
Contest ends 10/20/10

A-Z Wednesday - I

Welcome to A-Z Wednesday!!
To join, here's all you have to do:
Go to your stack of books and find an author whose first or last name starts with the letter of the week.
Post:
1~ a photo of the book
2~ title and synopsis
3~ link (Amazon, Barnes and Noble etc.)
4~ Go to Reading At The Beach and leave your link in the comments.
If you've already reviewed the book, add it or the link to your post.

This week's letter is: "I"

Atonement by Ian McEwan


Summary from Amazon:
This haunting novel is in effect two, or even three, books in one, all masterfully crafted. The first part ushers us into a domestic crisis that becomes a crime story centered around an event that changes the lives of half a dozen people in an upper-middle-class country home on a hot English summer's day in 1935. Young Briony Tallis, a hyperimaginative 13-year-old who sees her older sister, Cecilia, mysteriously involved with their neighbor Robbie Turner, a fellow Cambridge student subsidized by the Tallis family, points a finger at Robbie when her young cousin is assaulted in the grounds that night; on her testimony alone, Robbie is jailed.
The second part of the book moves forward five years to focus on Robbie, now freed and part of the British Army that was cornered and eventually evacuated by a fleet of small boats at Dunkirk during the early days of WWII. This is an astonishingly imagined fresco that bares the full anguish of what Britain in later years came to see as a kind of victory.
In the third part, Briony becomes a nurse amid wonderfully observed scenes of London as the nation mobilizes. No, she doesn't have Robbie as a patient, but she begins to come to terms with what she has done and offers to make amends to him and Cecilia, now together as lovers.
In an ironic epilogue that is yet another coup de the tre, McEwan offers Briony as an elderly novelist today, revisiting her past in fact and fancy and contributing a moving windup to the sustained flight of a deeply novelistic imagination.

Maybe it's just me but I never felt Briony found atonement - she keep up her fantasy and wrote the conclusion she wanted because she'd never be able to make amends. So even at the end, she continue her delude herself.

WWW Wednesdays (October 6)

Hosted by Should Be Reading
To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…
* What are you currently reading?
* What did you recently finish reading?
* What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

A Crack in the Sky (Greenhouse Chronicles) by Mark Peter Hughes

What did you recently finish reading?

The Tomorrow Code by Brian Falkner

What do you think you’ll read next?

13 to Life (13 to Life #1) by Shannon Delany

"Waiting On" Wednesday: The Thirteenth Chime

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My pick is: The Thirteenth Chime (Sense of Truth #1) by Emma Michaels

To purchase: http://amzn.com/1453715061

Summary from Amazon:

HATRED NEVER DIES... Destiny has finally found the life that she has always wanted. She is about to finish college, has a fiancé that loves her, and a great summer on the West Coast planned with her friend, Stephanie. But her world is turned upside down when an antique clock mysteriously chimes thirteen times and someone attacks them, sending Stephanie and her mother to the hospital. Alone, and without any help from the police, Destiny has no choice but to turn to the one man she had left behind a year ago - her ex-boyfriend, David. Together, they must solve the riddle of the thirteenth chime before the clock strikes thirteen again. Yet as they face their own past and hearts, a trap over half a century old is waiting for them to become its prey. For revenge, fifty years is never too long...

"The Thirteenth Chime" A spine-tingling debut novel from the hottest new author to the scene.

Teaser Tuesdays: The Tomorrow Code

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

~*Grab your current read
~*Open to a random page
~*Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

The Tomorrow Code by Brian Falkner


There were stars above and stars below, rippling slowly in the light breeze, and it was like being out in the center of the universe, floating through space on your back.

~* page 5