No talkie talkie here! :D

In One Year and Out the Other

Book Description
Out with the old, in with the new, and on with the party!
Maybe it's just another midnight...or maybe there really is magic in the air when December 31st becomes January 1st, and confetti kisses and champagne toasts kick off a new year, a new romance, a new look, a new attitude.

Celebrate the start of something new with In One Year and Out the Other...a sparkling collection of all new stories by today's rising fiction stars:

Cara Lockwood puts self-improvement to the test with 528 resolutions -- not least of which is "Do not sleep with married men" -- in "Resolved: A New Year's Resolution List"...Pamela Redmond Satran instructs a single mom in the fine art of partying like the boys (have lots of sex, don't worry that you're too fat) in "How to Start the New Year Like a Guy"...Diane Stingley shows a twentysomething why there's more to life than waiting by the phone for a New Year's date in "Expecting a Call"...Megan McAndrew seizes the day -- or just a very special one-night stand -- for a single food stylist hungering for more in "The Future of Sex"...and more great tales from Kathleen O'Reilly, Beth Kendrick, Eileen Rendahl, Tracy McArdle and Libby Street.

Noumena's Reveal


An Ice Cold Grave by Charlaine Harris



Hired to find a boy gene missing in Doraville, North Carolina, Harper
Connelly and her brother Tolliver head there-only to discover that the boy
was only one of several who had disappeared over the previous five years.
All of them teenagers. All unlikely runaways.

All calling for Harper.

Harper soon finds them-eight victims, buried in the half-frozen ground, all
come to an unspeakable end. Afterwards, what she most wants to do is collect
her fee and get out of town ahead of the media storm that's soon to descend.
But when she's attacked and prevented from leaving, she reluctantly becomes
a part of the investigation as she learns more than she cares to about the
dark mysteries and long-hidden secrets of Doraville-knowledge that makes her
the next person likely to rest in an ice-cold grave.

KathyB's Reveal



All Saints by Liam Callanan

2007 ARC - paperback

Publishers Weekly
A rarified Southern California Catholic high school serves as the setting for thrice-divorced, 50-year-old Emily Hamilton's reckoning in Callanan's oddly luminous novel (following The Cloud Atlas). A teacher who finds her life intertwined with three of her students', Emily revisits relevant stages of her past (nicely interspersing an abundant knowledge of saints' lives) as she gets around to telling how she kissed Edgar Mandeville, an upstart student in her church history class (dubbed "Saints and Sinners" by everyone, including Emily herself). Refreshing insights into teenage angst (including secondaries such as the sexually confused Paul, the aforementioned Edgar and the shy but longing Cecily) are matched by midlife crisis candor-including that of irreverent department chair Fr. Martin Dimanche, with whom Emily has an ambivalent relationship. Emily herself has been struggling for personal redemption for nearly four decades: her teenage pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage are just the beginning. The book's stark events are handled while retaining sympathy for Emily: no mean feat. Callanan gets into her head with page-turning panache and authority. (Feb.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Terra57's Reveal



The Amber Photograph

Book Description

Diedre McAlister's mother is dying. But before she lets go of this life, she givers her daughter an old photograph and these parting words: "Find yourself. Find your truth. Just don't expect it to be what you thought it would be."

And Now Diedre's search begins-a quest to find the only person who can provide the missing pieces, the truth. But that search will cost Diedre her naive innocence and expose her family's unknown dark side. It will shake up Diedre's world, threaten lives, bring out the shadow of her past, challenge her faith-and quite possibly save her life.

EllyMae's Reveal:

The Heroines (Hardcover)



Although a true lover of books, Anne-Marie Entwhistle prefers not to read to her spirited daughter, Penny, especially from the likes of Madame Bovary, Gone With the Wind, or The Scarlet Letter. These novels, devoted to the lives of the Heroines that make them so irresistible, have a way of hitting too close to home - well, to the Homestead actually, where Anne-Marie runs the quaint family-owned bed and breakfast.

In this enchanting debut novel, Penny and her mother encounter great women from classic works of literature who make the Homestead their destination of choice just as the plots of their tumultuous, unforgettable stories begin to unravel. They appear at all hours of the day and in all manners of distress. A lovesick Madame Bovary languishes in their hammock after Rodolphe has abandoned her, and Scarlett O'Hara's emotions are not easily tempered by tea and eiderdowns. These visitors long for comfort, consolation, and sometimes for more attention than the adolescent Penny wants her mother to give.

Knowing that to interfere with their stories would cause mayhem in literature, Anne-Marie does her best to make each Heroine feel at home, with a roof over her head and a shoulder to cry on. But when Penny begins to feel overshadowed by her mother's indulgence of each and every Heroine, havoc ensues, and the thirteen-year-old embarks on her own memorable tale.

Ramsons Reveal



Slightly Engaged by Wendy Markham

Tracey Spadolini, the heroine of Slightly Single (2002) and Slightly Settled (2004), is in a healthy, committed relationship, cohabiting with her boyfriend, Jack. Though she's happy living with Jack, Tracey wants him to propose, and she's sure it's finally going to happen when his mother slips up and mentions he asked for a family diamond ring. Tracey expects the proposal any day, but Sweetest Day, then Thanksgiving, and then Christmas pass with no ring. Tracey starts to wonder if Jack is really going to propose or if he's gotten cold feet. While Tracey's marriage obsession grates on the nerves at times, her confusion about what she wants to do with her life rings true; and when she comes to a major realization about her career, it's a gratifying moment for both the reader and Tracey herself. Readers who liked the previous two books will flock to this one, and are likely safe in expecting another Slightly romp at some point in the future.

"Babes In Captivity" by Pamela Redmond Satran



Book Description
They've satisfied their biological clocks.
They met six years ago in a mom's group. Deirdre, Juliette, Anne, and Lisa are each living The Dream in the suburbs outside of New York City: beautiful wedding, big house, picture perfect family. What more could a woman want? Plenty, though none of them has ever admitted it. Out loud, anyway. It all starts with Deirdre....When she learns that her ex-lover, musician Nick Ruby, has moved back East, she confides in her girlfriends that she regrets her lost singing career, and her lost love affair with Nick. And since there doesn't seem to be a "what's next" in her life, she's more than a little curious about "what if...?"

So what's that ticking sound?
Deirdre's confession -- and her plan to revive her dreams and make them reality -- has a startling ripple effect. It turns out none of the four is as happy as she seems: Anne fears her marriage is in jeopardy. Juliette desperately wants to have another baby but can't. And Lisa's facing decisions that her life -- literally -- depends on. The doors swing wide when these babes start breaking out...but at what price? There's no satisfaction guarantee for any one of them, but taking chances together sure beats going it alone.

Run
by Ann Patchett



From Publishers Weekly
Novelists can no longer take it as an insult when people say their novels are like good television, because the finest American television is better written than most novels. Ann Patchett's new one has the texture, the pace and the fairy tale elegance of a half dozen novels she might have read and loved growing up, but the magic and the finesse of Run is really much closer to that of Six Feet Under or ER or The Sopranos, and that is good news for everybody, not least her readers.Bernadette and Bernard Doyle were a Boston couple who wanted to have a big lively family. They had one boy, Sullivan, and then adopted two black kids, Teddy and Tip. Mr. Doyle is a former mayor of Boston and he continues his interest in politics, hoping his boys will shape up one day for elected office, though none of them seems especially keen. Bernadette dies when the adopted kids are just four, and much of the book offers a placid requiem to her memory in particular and to the force of motherhood in lives generally. An old statue from Bernadette's side of the family seems to convey miracles, and there will be more than one before this gracious book is done. One night, during a heavy snowfall, Teddy and Tip accompany their father to a lecture given by Jessie Jackson at the Kennedy Centre. Tip is preoccupied with studying fish, so he feels more than a little coerced by his father. After the lecture they get into an argument and Tip walks backwards in the road. A car appears out of nowhere and so does a woman called Tennessee, who pushes Tip out of the car's path and is herself struck. Thus, a woman is taken to hospital and her daughter, Kenya, is left in the company of the Doyles. Relationships begin both to emerge and unravel, disclosing secrets, hopes, fears. Run is a novel with timeless concerns at its heart—class and belonging, parenthood and love—and if it wears that heart on its sleeve, then it does so with confidence. And so it should: the book is lovely to read and is satisfyingly bold in its attempt to say something patient and true about family. Patchett knows how to wear big human concerns very lightly, and that is a continuing bonus for those who found a great deal to admire in her previous work, especially the ultra-lauded Bel Canto. Yet one should not mistake that lightness for anything cosmetic: Run is a book that sets out inventively to contend with the temper of our times, and by the end we feel we really know the Doyle family in all its intensity and with all its surprises.

Lisey's Story by Stephen King



From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Following King's triumphant return to the world of gory horror in Cell, the bestselling author proves he's still the master of supernatural suspense in this minimally bloody but disturbing and sorrowful love story set in rural Maine. Lisey's husband, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Scott Landon, has been dead for two years at the book's start, but his presence is felt on every page. Lisey hears him so often in her head that when her catatonic sister, Amanda, begins speaking to her with Scott's voice, she finds it not so much unbelievable as inevitable. Soon she's following a trail of clues that lead her to Scott's horrifying childhood and the eerie world called Boo'ya Moon, all while trying to help Amanda and avoid a murderous stalker. Both a metaphor for coming to terms with grief and a self-referencing parable of the writer's craft, this novel answers the question King posed 25 years ago in his tale "The Reach": yes, the dead do love.

This is a like-new HARDCOVER edition!

This is a Hardcover

Blood of Flowers
by Anita Amirrezvani


Synopsis
At the age of fourteen, a young woman in 17th-century Persia believes she will be married within the year. But when her beloved father dies, collapsing in the field where he works with the other men from their village, there is no hope for a dowry. Alone and penniless, she and her grieving mother are forced to sell the brilliant turquoise rug the young woman has woven,meant, of course, for her married life, to pay for their journey to Isfahan. There they will work as servants for her uncle Gostaham, a rich rug designer in the court of the Shah, and be lorded over by Gostaham's wife. Despite her lowly station, the young woman blossoms as a brilliant weaver of carpets, a rarity in a craft dominated by men. But while her artistic gift flourishes, her prospects for a happy marriage grow dim. Forced into a secret marriage with a man who will never take her as his first wife, the young woman is faced with a daunting decision: forsake her own dignity, or risk everything she has in an effort to maintain it. Amirrezvani infuses her story with lush detail, brilliantly bringing to life the sights sounds and life of 17th-century Isfahan: The dazzling architecture; the exotic Persian foods; the breathtakingly beautiful rugs. A sweeping love story, a powerful coming-of-age story, and a luminous portrait of a city, this is a universal tale of one woman's struggle to live a life of her choosing.

Here is Xallrox's reveal:


The Queen of Babble
by Meg Cabot


Lizzie Nichols, a fashion-history major, wants nothing more than to graduate college and then fly off to London to be with her boyfriend, Andy. But at her graduation party, Lizzie finds out that she can't graduate until she writes a senior thesis. And when she lands in London, Andy turns out to be a liar, gambler, and a fashion disaster. Lizzie, stuck in London with a nonchangeable ticket home, escapes Andy via the Chunnel in hopes that her friend Shari, who is catering weddings for the summer at a French chateau, can help. On the train, Lizzie meets a stranger, Jean-Luc, and spills everything that has happened, only to find out that he is the son of the chateau's owner. At the chateau, Lizzie continues to babble when she shouldn't, ticking off Jean-Luc, shocking his mother, and upsetting a bride. Will she ever learn to keep her mouth shut?

BooGal's Reveal



An Affair Before Christmas by Eloisa James

[QUOTE]Magic under
the mistletoe...

One spectacular Christmas, Lady Perdita Selby, known to her friends and family as Poppy, met the man she thought she would love forever. The devilishly attractive Duke of Fletcher was the perfect match for the innocent, breathtakingly beautiful young Englishwoman, and theirs was the most romantic wedding she had ever seen. Four years later, Poppy and the duke have become the toast of the ton... but behind closed doors the spark of their love affair has burned out.

Unwilling to lose the woman he still lusts after, the duke is determined to win back his beguiling bride's delectable affections…and surpass the heady days of first love with a truly sinful seduction.

Nursie's reveal

5 Star rating on Amazon.com!!

Things to Bring, S#!t To Do... and Other Inventories of Anxiety by Karen Rizzo



The emotional highs and lows, the romantic escapades and the financial setbacks, the moments of comedy, anxiety, and personal tragedy—they’re all brought vividly to life in Things to Bring, S#!t to Do, the first memoir told entirely in lists. Annotated with Karen’s insightful recollections, the book presents a compelling portrait—sometimes touching, sometimes hilarious—of a woman, her family, and her friends from 1970s America to the present day.

Like many women (and some men, too), Karen Rizzo is a compulsive list-maker. She scribbles grocery lists on Post-It notes, pencils lists of resolutions on the backs of greeting cards, regularly jots down all the things she needs to bring, to do, to remember . .

Unlike the rest of us, however, Karen has saved her lists—dating from the list of favorite things she wrote as a kid (Favorite animal: horse; Color: purple; Food: olives from Dad’s martini). Together, these scraps of paper form an intimate chronicle of her life’s journey, from her early struggles with work and love to the years spent watching her mother battle breast cancer to the times she’s had to juggle the demands of marriage and motherhood with those of her career.

Danes reveal is a 2-fer:

This is LML's reveal!


The Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland




In this book, the author transports the reader yet again to another gorgeous time and place - the lush, untamed British Columbia Coast at the turn of the 20th century - where she begins the story of the legendary painter, naturalist and icon, Emily Carr.

From an early age, it is clear that Emily is not like her sisters -- not satisfied with the pious and rigid world she is expected to fit into. Her creative talent and fiercely independent spirit are far too strong to be suppressed by her father's wishes to marry and settle down in polite Vancouver society. Drawn to the danger and beauty of a vast wilderness and its people, Emily defies her family's better judgment, spurns suitors, and establishes herself as an art teacher, venturing off whenever possible to the wild coast of British Columbia. There she begins to paint the native tribal villages in an effort to portray the rich culture of these people, their canoes, totems and artfully decorated communal houses before they are destroyed forever.
In Vreeland's deeply imagined novel, Carr's life becomes a fascinating and engaging meditation on the search for self and self-acceptance.

Apolonia's Reveal



Synopsis
The Barnes & Noble Review
Dare to make a bet with a bad boy? In this steamy collection, three bad boys dreamed up by Lori Foster, Janelle Denison, and Nancy Warren each consider some pretty outrageous propositions, with life-altering consequences. It all makes for fun, fast-paced, sexy reading. Take staid, successful Gil Watson: His life seems pretty predictable, until he discovers he has a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Nicole. And what's more, the mother's wild best friend, Annabel (tattoos, belly-button ring), who has been caring for the toddler, tells Gil he can keep Nicole only if he marries her. Then there's Adrian Wilde, one of the last Wilde brothers to fall to domestic bliss. This big outdoors guy seems afraid of nothing, but he's running away from Chayse, a sexy photographer who wants him to pose for a charity calendar. This time he makes the bet: He’ll pose if she agrees to spend a long weekend with him. Finally, there's Adam Stone. He arrives at San Francisco's airport only to be targeted by Gretchen Wiest, a private investigator who thinks she's spying on yet another adulterous spouse. Except that Adam's not married...which means someone has put Gretchen up to something far more dangerous, and unraveling it even entails an Elvis wedding. Ginger Curwen

Brat's Reveal

American Gods by Neil Gaiman




"Shadow is a man with a past. But now he wants nothing more than to live a quite life with his wife and stay out of trouble. Until he learns that she's been killed in a terrible accident.

Flying home for the funeral, as a violent storm rocks the plane, a strange man in the seat next to him introduces himself as Mr. Wednesday, and he knows more about Shadow that is possible.

He warns Shadow that a far bigger storm is coming. And from that moment on, nothing will ever be the same...."

A Connecticut Fashionista in King Arthur's Court by Marianne Mancusi



From Publishers Weekly:
At the start of Mancusi's sparkling debut, a Gypsy curse propels feisty 29-year-old Kat Jones, associate fashion editor at La Style magazine, from King Arthur's Faire back in time to the real King Arthur's court, where her cell phone doesn't work and the menu doesn't accommodate her low-carb diet. Kat's strange speech (peppered generously with "like" and "totally") makes Merlin and King Arthur suspicious enough to lock her up in a tower, despite the protests of kind Queen Guinevere. Luckily, the gorgeous Lancelot helps her escape. Could this noble knight finally be the remedy to all the 21st-century creeps she dates? Kat is determined to find a way back to the present and to save Camelot from its impending doom, while introducing such novelties as the "Round Table" and modern dance. The interactions between the acerbically sassy protagonist and the stoic knights and royalty amuse, though the difficult and sarcastic Kat can also be annoying. Still, Kat's efforts to figure out the real story of Camelot's destruction intrigue, while her romance with Lancelot puts a nice twist on the modern girl's search for prince charming