Morning Meanderings… Welcome to 2012 with a Giveaway!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)

Good morning and Happy New Year!!!

I hope everyone had a happy eve.  Hubby and I went out to dinner and then hung out with some friends for awhile.  We were home way before the clock struck midnight.  Next year maybe I will plan something here at our house, board games and movies…. 😀

I have so been looking forward to this day…. I dont remember being this excited for a new year in a long time, but I am ready to start 2012 goals, 2012 books….. 2012.  😀

I have some blog changes I plan to make in the next few weeks here, I am bringing back the commenter contest now through May (maybe longer – we will see) that was for the top commenter of each month received a $20 Amazon gift card – and two random commenters receive books.

The big announcement for today is what book is going to be the one I am reading first for 2012…. well, my review will hopefully be up today as per tradition….

the book is:

I seen this book on many best of the best lists for 2011 so here it is.  I am currently reading and enjoying it.  I am on page 81 this morning so I have a LOT of reading to do 😀  YAY for New Years Day!  Nothing in the plan today except reading and relaxing 🙂

To celebrate this first week of 2012 I am going to be reading several books I have been waiting to read… wishing to read.  I will also be having a giveaway a day to celebrate because I am in that kind of mood :)Stop in each morning to see what it will be…. 😀  You will have all week to sign up for each giveaway – On Sunday the 7th I will announce all seven days of winners.  😀

This morning the giveaway is for a copy of:

When Nina Revskaya puts her remarkable jewelry collection up for auction, the former Bolshoi Ballet star finds herself overwhelmed by memories of her homeland, and of the events, both glorious and heartbreaking, that changed her life half a century earlier. It was in Russia that she discovered the magic of dance and fell in love, and where, faced with Stalinist aggression, a terrible discovery incited a deadly act of betrayal—and an ingenious escape to the West.

Nina has kept her secrets for half a lifetime. But now Drew Brooks, an inquisitive associate at a Boston auction house, and Grigori Solodin, a professor who believes Nina’s jewels hold the key to unlocking his past, begin to unravel her story—setting in motion a series of revelations that will have life-altering consequences for them all.

For a chance to win this book – leave a comment here letting me know what your first book of 2012 is going to be.  😀

Have an awesome day everyone!

116 thoughts on “Morning Meanderings… Welcome to 2012 with a Giveaway!”

  1. Happy New Year.
    This book giveaway is just fantastic.
    My first book this year is Dreams of Joy by Lisa See.
    Thanks for the chance to win.

    Reply

  2. I’m reading Gingerbread Bumpoff for my 1st book of 2012.

    Happy New Year and thanks for such a great blog!

    Reply

  5. I spent New Year’s Eve at a church service with my family and then I came home and finished my last book of 2011 (Little Women) with half an hour to spare!

    I hope you love Divergent as much as I did 🙂 My first book of 2012 will be Legend by Marie Lu. So far it reminds me of Divergent.

    Happy New Year! Enjoy your day of reading and relaxing 🙂 I will be going to the mall to find some new winter boots now that January is here and heavy snow can’t be far behind…

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  6. I’ve started reading The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus by Amy-Jill Levine. I think Russian Winter sounds like a good book, so thanks for offering one of us a chance to read it.

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  8. my first book is the river of doubt..theodore roosevelt’s darkest journey…i’m more of a fiction girl but this is what my overly ambitious book club picked…the meetingis this friday and we all just started it. power reading!

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  9. My first book is going to be The Scottish Prisioner by Diana Gabaldon. I preordered it for myself for my birthday and then never got a chance to really start it. A few days ago I decided it was going to be my New Year’s treat. Happy Reading!

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  11. Happy New Year! My first book will be Immortal Bird by Doron Weber. I started it yesterday and am already about halfway through. It’s a family memoir about a boy with a heart defect. I didn’t realize that I was grabbing a potentially depressing book yesterday, but it’s been very good so far.

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  12. Happy New Year! My first book of the year is Evolution, Me and Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande. Funny AND thought provoking! Perfect combo.
    Enjoy this new day!!

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  14. Oh, I forgot to answer the question: Do you want to know which one we’ll finish first? I started this one yesterday, but will finish it today.

    Balancing Acts, by Zoe Fishman, which I won from your blog! Enjoying it a lot!!

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  15. A Happy New Year to you too! At midnight I cracked open my arc of MWF Seeking BFF, read a few pages, and promptly fell asleep. Nothing wrong with the book, I was just tired I guess.

    I haven’t read Divergent but I see it’s getting great reviews. Could be an addition to my list for the Dystopian Challange. 🙂

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  17. I’m going to have to decide my first book after lunch today when we get back from church. My choices are “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children,” “The Consolation of Philosophy,” or “Half of a Yellow Sun.” I’m leaning towards that last one.

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  18. Happy New Year! And what a great book to start off with in the new year! My first book of 2012 will be “Clockwork Prince”.

    BornajhawkATaolDOTcom

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  19. Happy New Year, Sheila! I’ve been enjoying your blog all year, keeping an eye on your reading choices, your injuries and the comings and goings of your family and friends. My first read for 2012 is Peter Hedges’s (author of Gilbert the Grape) The Heights. It’s escapist literature for sure, but with a solid underlying message. My next two books will be Submission by Amy Waldman and Embers by Sandor Marai, for my January book group meetings. I received a stack of new cookbooks for holiday gifts, and read those like novels too!

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  21. Divergent is one of those books I’ve seen all over, actually bought based on bloggers’ recommendations, and yet still it sits on the shelves. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear your thoughts.

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  22. Oh Boy, I would love to win this one…the story sounds delicious…I hope the fact that I haven’t yet decided on my first book of 2012 won’t be held against me! I intent to finish my current read first and then maybe a few more Christmas reads…but then, who knows…

    Reply

  23. Happy New Year, my bookie friend! I hope this year is wonderful and happy and shiny for you and yours!
    My first book of the year is an unusual memoir, “The Man Who Couldn’t Eat,” by Jon Reiner – it’s pretty fascinating so far! 🙂
    Good luck on your reading plans! (((( Big New Years Hugs)))) – Sharon

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  24. Hi Shelia, happy new year! I’m actually in the middle of two books right now, but my first review of the year will probably be AJ Nuest’s Jezebel’s Wish. I haven’t decided what to pull off the TBR list after I finish that one. Probably the Fairy Queen of Spencer’s Butte by Jolene Dawe.

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  25. Happy New Year! I was lucky to receive an ARC of The World we Found by Thrity Umrigar-it is awesome , will be my first book finished in 2012 today!! Would love to read Russian Winter.

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  27. “Happy New Year!” I am going to read a book by James
    Michael Pratt called The Lost Valentine!
    Many thanks, Cindi

    Reply

  28. My fist book of the year is She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders by Jennifer Boylan. It’s a wonderful, courageous and heart-warming story. I finished it in the wee hours of this morning – didn’t want to put it down.

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  29. Happy New Year to you too! Thanks for the giveaway. My first read is Hangman by Faye Kellerman. I think it’s number 20 in the series!

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      1. That would be a yes, Sheila! Anal reader that I am, I have to start a series at the beginning and continue in order!

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  30. I started yesterday and hope to finish today In One Year and Out the Other, a collection of short stories from chick lit authors that center around New Years, have been wanting to read it, but wanted to save it for this weekend!

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  34. Happy New Year Sheila! I’m not entering either, but my first book is Radio Shangri-La. You’ll just have to wait and see why you inspired me to choose that for my first book of the year. 😀

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  36. My 1st book is Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers…it seems like a morbid choice, but I’ve been waiting on it because it was even more morbid to read around Christmas!

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  40. I hope you enjoy Divergent! My first book for 2012 is The Second Sonata by Nathan Hardt. It is a carry over from last year.
    Happy New Year to you!! I’ll be joining some of your challenges. I’m working on the posts now.

    Reply

  41. I actually am having a mini read a thon reading all the children’s books in the house so I can donate them to my nephews school

    Plus I want to clear out some of the books on my iPad.

    Froggy Boots Go With Everything
    Tales of Miss Moppet

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  42. My first book which I have finished as well is the Catherine Dunn book Missing Julia (review due later in the day).Hope you enjoy your first read.

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  46. No need to enter me in the drawing for this book as I already have it in my Audible library.

    My first book of 2012 is Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich. It’s typical Stephanie Plum and a light, easy read to ease into the new year.

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  48. Sarah’s Key is the first book I started reading this New Year. However I just finished an ebook called Tortured by Caragh O’Brien so I guess that is the first book completed of 2012. Happy New Year!

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  53. My first book is going to be Darkness My Old Friend by Lisa Unger. Thanks for having this giveaway. Happy New Year!

    Reply

  54. My first book of 2012 was Spell Bound by Kelley Armstrong and I read it today. I only meant to read for about an hour but got so caught up in it that I ended up reading it in one sitting. I really love Kelley Armstrong’s books. Now I just have to work out “where” I think it was set most so I can put it on my “where are you reading” map.

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  55. I have started reading my arc All the FLowers in Shanghai-I am going to try to get the books reviewed for they come out.

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  56. What a fantastic novel for a giveaway and i would love to win it! xxx
    The book that i am going to read first this year is ‘Queen Hearafter by Susan Frazer-King’. I adore this paticular genre, so keeping my fingers crossed! xxx

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  57. Happy New year! I have been meaning to read Divergent. I’ve heard lots of great things about it. 🙂 My first book of 2012 was actually the Hunger Games. It was fantastic and I highly recommend it. I’m on the third book, Mockingjay now. Awesome books! 😀

    Reply

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