MAILBOX MONDAY!

Mailbox Monday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Marcia over at The Printed Page. 

Since I missed the last few Mondays, I have a few to blab about!!  WOOT! 

Here they are in all their georgous bookiness:

(WOAH!  Has this ever happened to you?  You are literally typing your post for Mailbox Monday and the doorbell rings... Fed Ex delivering another book!!!  I am soooo happyyy!!!)

The following books were sent to me by Michelle  and Anneliese from SIMON AND SCHUSTER CANADA... THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!!  I will say, once again, that Simon and Schuster Canada are very good to me, and I am honoured and blessed that they send me books for review. 

• It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han  YA available in April
• Claire De Lune by Christine Johnson  YA Available May 18th
• Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready  YA available May 18th
• She's So Dead to Us by Kieran Scott   YA Available May 25th
• The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
• Eternal on the Water by Joseph Monninger (I started this last Thurs and am LOOOVING it!)
• A book that I have been told to keep strictly under wraps until closer to the publication date, which is sometime in May.  The only thing I will say is that it is YA and looks AMAZING!  So, watch for it!  I'll label the post "Mystery YA novel Revealed!"

Last week, I recieved a VERY exciting email asking me if I would like to review a new book.  It is exciting because the email was from PENGUIN PUBLISHING!   I had applied to review for them a few months ago and was just so thrilled and honoured to now be on their roster of bloggers that they send out ARC's too.  THANK YOU PENGUIN! 

The book that was sent to me and arrived literally a moment ago is:

MISTRESS OF ROME by Kate Quinn   Available April 6th 2010. 
THANK YOU, KAITLYN!

I suddenly have A LOT of review books to read, as I have some from awhile ago that I am still working my way through... ACK!   I have now placed the stack in priority of A) books that I've had for awhile and have not yet reviewed, B) books with an imminent release date C) and books with a release date in May.  So, I am not doing much recreational reading at the moment!  But I must say that so far the books FEEL very much like recreation as I am really liking them or loving them.

What's in YOUR mailbox this week?

WE HAVE A WEEEEENER!

To.........

LISA BASSO over at The Journal of an Aspiring Writer!

She has won an ARC copy of GONE by LISA MCMANN!!!!!

Thank you SO MUCH to all you who entered this quicky giveaway!  And Lisa please email me your snail mail by Midnight on Friday or I will have to redraw.  You can comment here with your details and I will not publish, or you can email me at circlebooks@shaw.ca

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!

AWARD!

I was given this LOVELY award by Missy over at Missy's Book Nook!  THANK YOU, MISSY!!!!  And here are the details of this beauty:

Receiving this award means:


A Prolific Blogger is one who is intellectually productive… keeping up an active blog that is filled with enjoyable content.

1. Every winner of the Prolific Blogger Award has to pass on this award to at least seven other deserving prolific bloggers. Spread some love!

2. Each Prolific Blogger must link to the blog from which he/she has received the award.

3. Every Prolific Blogger must link back to This Post, which explains the origins and motivation for the award.

I now pass on this award to the following amazing people!  :

• Shellie over at Layers of Thought
• Rach over at Books i done read
• Mel over at He Followed me Home
• My buddies Alyssa, Gregory and Jake over at Teens Read and Write
• Natalie at The Book Inn
• Alita over at Alita Reads
• Vanessa over at VB Book Review Blog!

I would love to thank all of my fellow book bloggers for their great content, and support!

I will be MIA till Tuesday of next week.  I am busy working with my sister at the teachers convention running her Scholastic booth (woot books!), and then my husband and I are running the film industry interactive booths at the Reel Fun Film Festival!  If you are in the Calgary area, come and check us out!  We have an Emmy award winning make-up artist there to do special effects makeup on people, we have an editor there with an editing suite where you can see what an editor does and call the shots! We have one of our most talented animal trainers there with two of her canine stars to put on two shows and give tips on how to train your dog like a movie dog, and my husband will be running a small actual film set where we will be shooting scenes from Shrek and kids will be taught how to run various departments like the camera, sound, assistant directing, directing, etc!  Plus we have our very talented reptile wrangler with many of his scaly stars that have appeared in huge movies such as The Assissination of Jesse James etc!  There will also be a Claymation workshop you can attend as well!  PLUS there will be short films screening all day for you to see!

REVIEW: THE TRIUMPH OF DEBORAH

The Triumph of Deborah by Eva Etzioni-Halevy

First I would like to extend a HUGE thank you to the author of this extraordinary novel, Eva Etzioni-Halevy, for sending me this book.  If it had not been for her, I may have never had the honour of reading it.

This is a perfect example of why I love historical fiction.  Etzioni-Halevy has created a richly laid out account of the woman known as Deborah, and she is heralded as one of the greatest judges and female leaders of biblical times.  But this is not the main reason why I loved it.  Yeah, yeah, yeah, strong woman, good role model... yadda.... but it is BARAK who is the real page turning force in this book. SEEERIOUSLY.    I kept picturing Gerard Butler in the part, but you can pick any swoon-worthy man you like.  I mean, he must have been HAWT.  Every single female was practically throwing themselves at his hottie-hot-hot muscular feet, and it was through his eyes, or should I say, naughty bits, that we are propelled through this story.  Wow.  What a man.  And a BAD boy, but not TOO bad.   There were times where I thought he was a total creep, a cretin, a letch.  And other times when I thought he was somewhat honorable.   He was kind of like Warren Beatty, if you get my meaning, who was on the search for his Annette Benning but doesn't know it yet.  I am not sure why the book is called The Triumph of Deborah, when really the entire story revolves around Barak, but I am not complaining.  Not me.  Not one bit.

Okay, but OTHER than THAT.  This book is absolutely stunning in its writing.  Etzioni-Halevy is an extremely talented writer who successfully weaves several lives together and knows when to leave one character and visit another, and you are taken from storyline to storyline seamlessly and with nary a jarring scene change.  I simply could not put it down.  There is plenty of  historical content, but set against a backdrop of the relationships of Barak, Asherah, Nogah and Deborah, it is anything but dull or dry.  It is as vibrant and colorful as the rugs that lined the tents of Deborah.  It is as gilded as the great Judges chair upon which she sat.  It is as fragrant as the spices that laced the wine.  In short, it is FANTASTIC. 

I can give it none other than a very exhuberant 5 OUT OF 5. 

I am now going to rush out and read the other two of her novels:  The Song of Hannah and The Garden of Ruth! 

You can read more about the author and her works along with great interviews with her on her website.

QUICKY GIVEAWAY! GONE BY LISA MCMANN

GONE by LISA MCMANN

This is an ARC and it is just too scary for me!  How funny is that!  I am very squeamish, so I just can't bring myself to read it, although I've heard this is an awesome trilogy!  This book is the 3rd in the series, and I am offering it up for a quick giveaway!!!!!  Contest is open to US and Canada only as I will be paying for shipping myself.  A HUGE thank you to MICHELLE over at Simon and Schuster Canada for sending this along to me! 

The rules are super simple, you must be a follower and comment here.  Please leave a way for me to contact you, if you leave your email address and do NOT want me to publish it just let me know and I will note your entry and not publish your comment. 

ONE ENTRY per person, please.

CONTEST ENDS ON FEBRURARY 15TH.

GOOD LUCK!!!  :0)

TEASER TUESDAY!

It's Teaser Tuesday time agaaaiiin!  This is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading, and anyone can play!  Please feel free to leave a comment along with a link to your TT.  Or you can just leave your teaser sentences in the comments if you do not have a blog. Can't wait to read your teasers! 

• Grab your current read
• flip to a random page
• select two teaser sentences from somewhere on that page
• Try not to include SPOILERS!
• Please let us know the name of the book along with the author's name so we can add it to our TBR!

My teaser is from "Paper Towns" by John Green.  I heard about this book a week or two ago on another person's blog, and am I ever glad I put it on hold at the library!  I just picked it up yesterday, so I am barely into the book, but so far it is HILARIOUS.  I LOVE the way John writes!  Because I have just started this book and do not want to risk any spoilers for me or you, I am picking my sentences from page 4.  In fact, it's very possible that this very sentence was the one that this blogger posted which is what made me want to read the book in the first place!

On the morning in question, she wore white shorts and a pink T-shirt that featured a green dragon breathing a fire of orange glitter.  It is difficult to explain how awesome I found this T-shirt at the time.

For more teasers click here.

REVIEW: THE CROWNING GLORY OF CALLA LILLY PONDER

The Crowning Glory of Calla Lilly Ponder by Rebecca Wells
Challenge covered:  "Reading from my shelves 2010"

This was my first ever win from a blog contest way back in August.  I won this book from She's Too Fond of Books.  THANKS, DAWN!

The first thing I will say that I love about this book is the cover, does that not just scream "SUMMER!" at you?  The unrestrained joy on that young girls face just says it all.  I loved Calla Lilly.  She is a bursting beautiful girl, who is swimming in love from those around her.  The first half of this book just had me immediately captivated.  For one thing I have always been a big moon lover.  I am forever calling my oldest daughter out from wherever she is in the house to gaze out the window at the moons beauty.  It is such a soothing orb, with its gentle bathing light.  Sigh.   I love her.  So, the fact that she plays such a large part of this story, really made it aces in my book. 

The next thing I loved was the relationship between Calla's mother (M'dear) and Calla.  These two had an extraordinary bond, and you could truly see that Calla saw her mother as a goddess.  Now I think it needs to be said here:

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!
















When Calla learns of her mother's cancer, I was devestated.  And the one scene that had me in absolute tears was when M'dear and Papa come and woke Calla and her brothers at 3 AM and take them to the dance studio that they own.  There they partake in one of the most moving dance experiences I have ever read.  Made me cry, I mean actual TEARS, people!  What a beautiful way to say good-bye. 

The friendship that she shares with Suke and Renee is also believable and thoroughly enjoyable!  And let's not forget about Tuck, her first love whom she met as a rag-tag boy who stepped off a bus completely alone in the small sleepy town of La Luna.

La Luna is a character in and of itself.  The town has an "aliveness" to it that is extremely charming, and if it really exsisted I would want to live there.  Wells has a way of describing Louisana and the ever present heat and music and life of the place that makes you truly escape among the pages of her book.

Once Calla has her heart broken by Tuck, and she decides to make the brave move to New Orleans was when the book fell a bit flat for me.  For some reason the story lost its zing.  I think it was mainly when she met her husband, Sweet.  I just didn't "feel" the love they had for eachother.  For Calla, who so passionately loved everyone in her life, and the world around her, I just didn't get that passion for her husband.  I still can't put my finger on why.  Later, when she is reunited with Tuck I then felt the passion was back.  Eventhough she said that she really loved Sweet, and had no doubt about him, I just didn't get that from their marriage.

All in all I have to say I did enjoy this one.  My overall feeling about it when I look at the cover is a nice warm loving embrace.  What will stay with me forever is the relationship between Calla and M'dear, and what this book did for me is made me want to strive for that kind of relationship with my daughters.  We are very close, and crazy about eachother, but it was the way in which M'dear made everything in Calla's life sacred, beautiful and a CELEBRATION!  It reminded me to do that for my girls more often.  And if THAT'S not a gift you can get from reading... .then I don't know what is, "y'all."  :0) 

RATING:  3/5