Giveaway: Cleaving by Julie Powell (audio)

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)52 Comments

Thanks to Hachette Audio I have three copies of this audio to give away:

Julie Powell thought cooking her way through Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking was the craziest thing she’d ever do–until she embarked on the voyage recounted in her new memoir, CLEAVING.

Her marriage challenged by an insane, irresistible love affair, Julie decides to leave town and immerse herself in a new obsession: butchery. She finds her way to Fleischer’s, a butcher shop where she buries herself in the details of food. She learns how to break down a side of beef and French a rack of ribs–tough, physical work that only sometimes distracts her from thoughts of afternoon trysts.

The camaraderie at Fleischer’s leads Julie to search out fellow butchers around the world–from South America to Europe to Africa. At the end of her odyssey, she has learned a new art and perhaps even mastered her unruly heart.


I have 3 of these to give away – here is how you can enter!

For one entry: Leave a comment here letting me know one of your favorite meals (*you must answer the question to be entered!)

Extra Entries?  Sure!

For an additional entry tweet or blog about this giveaway and leave me a link here on a separate comment

Be a follower of this blog and let me know here (for another entry) or subscribe to this blog and let me know here on a separate comment and have two extra entries (doing both would be three extra entries)

That’s it – giveaway will end January 22.  USA and Canada entrants only


Giveaway: Hollywood Moon by Joseph Wambaugh (audio)

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)52 Comments

Another wonderful giveaway offered by Hachette Audio!

There’s a saying at Hollywood station that the full moon brings out the beast–rather than the best–in the precinct’s citizens. One moonlit night, LAPD veteran Dana Vaughn and “Hollywood” Nate Weiss, a struggling-actor-turned cop, get a call about a young man who’s been attacking women. Meanwhile, two surfer cops known as Flotsam and Jetsam keep bumping into an odd, suspicious duo–a smooth-talking player in dreads and a crazy-eyed, tattooed biker. No one suspects that all three dubious characters might be involved in something bigger, more high-tech, and much more illegal. After a dizzying series of twists, turns, and chases, the cops will find they’ve stumbled upon a complex web of crime where even the criminals can’t be sure who’s conning whom.


I have 3 of these to give away – here is how you can enter!

For one entry: Leave a comment here letting me know the name of a detective in a book that you enjoyed (detectives name and the book he/she is in)

(*you must answer the question to be entered!)

Extra Entries?  Sure!

For an additional entry tweet or blog about this giveaway and leave me a link here on a separate comment

Be a follower of this blog and let me know here (for another entry) or subscribe to this blog and let me know here on a separate comment and have two extra entries (doing both would be three extra entries)

That’s it – giveaway will end January 21.  USA and Canada entrants only

Run For Your Life by James Patterson Audio

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)8 Comments

Patterson sets the bar high for audios everywhere .  ~ Sheila

Over this past year I have had the opportunity to listen to some wonderful audios.  I have really found a liking not only for James Patterson’s books, but for the very impressive readers that take on the character roles on his audios.  This one, Run For Your Life, took my experience of audio to a whole new level.

In this read, Detective Mike Bennett finds himself in the middle of a case with bizarre random killings happening with increased frequency throughout New York.  As Mike tries to put the clues  together while putting in long hours on the job, he finds no rest at home as his ten (yes ten) kids all under the age of 12 have the flu. Told with fascinating scenes that take you from fear to laughter ( wait until the family cat scene!) in such a pace that you feel that you are trapped inside a fun house that you are not entirely sure you want out of.

With Dallas Roberts and Bobby Cannavale alternating the viewpoints of Detective Mike and of our killer…. this was an extreme audio that kept me on my toes.  With the sound of gunshots bringing the read to life I was captivated from the start.  When chapter 41 started,  the readers voice was so intense and creepy my skin tingled with chills and anticipation.

By the time I had made it to the 5th CD, the audio had left my car and entered my home as I could no longer wait to hear what would happen next.


Highly recommended – if you have not tried audio before, this is a great place to start.  If you have not read Patterson ever or even lately, I suggest you take a look at what this incredible author is doing.  He is quickly making his way to the top of my favorite authors list.

My Amazon Review

I won my copy of the audio from J Kaye’s Book Blog


Its Monday, What Are You Reading?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)38 Comments

This weekly meme hosted by J Kaye’s Blog is one of my favorite book moments of the week!  Its the moment when Coffee Cup and I can go into my reading room and browse.   These next two weeks I have no real book commitments other than what I would like to read.  I still have reviews to catch up on posting so stay tuned for a few more Christmas reviews hitting yet this week.

Last week I finished:

A Blue and Gray Christmas by Joan Medlicott

Primal by Mark Batterson

The Ghost, The Egghead’s and Babe Ruth’s Piano by Larry Sweitzer

40 Loaves of Bread by C D Baker with a giveaway too!

I am currently putting the finishing touches on The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent and last night I finished listening to Run For Your Life by James Patterson (which was so fantastic!)  Review will be up later today.

As for this weeks plan:

That’s the plan.  Two books I have heard wonderful things about that have been waiting on my shelf.  So this week I say Merry Christmas to me, and I have pulled them down to be the next stories I get to sink into!

What are you reading this week?  Be sure to link up your post over at J Kaye’s Book Blog!

Pondering Moment: How Do You Read So Many Books?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)71 Comments

Not sure if this will become an occasional meme or not but there are a few questions that I get asked time and time again and this is one of them.


How Do I Read So Many Books?


Well, I am not a speed reader.  If anything I am a thorough reader.  By that I mean if I am reading along and suddenly something happens in the book that makes me go, “Wait a minute… I thought….”  I will actually back track through the book to make sure I am fully understanding.

The only way I can read what I do is that I feel I have an unusual life.  What do I mean?  Well, there are many things that take the place of reading time for others that I don’t have – such as:

  • We had our kids young.  Most of my friends still have kids at home.  We do not.  Our boys are 19 and 22.  The 19 year old goes to college 3 hours away and the 22 year old is in the Navy.
  • My work schedule is flexible.  We own our own business and I help out with payroll and invoices, but I can do that anytime, at midnight if I want to.  Other than that, we have office personal to handle the day to day stuff.  I work at our church office as the Office Manager 3 days a week from 9 – 2, Tues, Wed, Thurs.  I have long weekends.
  • My husband – works a lot!  He loves it!  He is out of the house by 5 am and back home usually around 6 – 8 pm.  He eats dinner, watches a little tv and is usually in bed by 9 pm.

All of these things factor into my reading time.  I prefer to read over watch tv so from the time Al goes to bed, until I do (about 1 am) I usually read.  If its a really good book… I have stayed up later!  🙂  I sometimes have a little reading time in the afternoon after work.  Weekends, if Al is working, I am usually reading once I have house work done.  If we travel to our cabin, he drives, I read for the 3 1/2 hour road trip…. if I drive, we listen to audio books.

There is an audio going in my vehicle at almost all times.  I prefer the story to music.  Sometimes, like the one I am listening to now, is getting so good – I will have to bring it in the house and listen to it while I prepare dinner.   Wherever I go, I have a book.  There is always a book in my car and/or in my purse.  Trains, long stop lights, waiting at appointments…. I am never bored.  When I work out on the tread mill or elliptical, I am reading.

I don’t read every day – but almost.  It is my absolute favorite pastime.  With winter here – I do not have the bike events like I do Spring thru Fall so I have even more time.

How about you – when and where do you read?

Do you have certain times of day or rituals to your reading schedule?

Do you read several books at once or do you have one going at a time?

In My Mailbox

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)26 Comments

Ahhh… it is that time of the week where I get to review what bookish items have come into my home.  This weekly meme is hosted by Kristi from the  Story Siren (who by the way celebrated two years of blogging this week!)

Ok… I cant wait so lets look shall we?

Shaunti Feldham is an incredible author.  Her book For Women Only was incredibly inspiring to me.   I was so excited to see that she has this new book available!!


I have drooled over this book since I first seen it and now here it is – in my home!  Par-tay in da house!   I have never read Nelson DeMille so this is going to be a real treat!


Dear John by Nicholas Sparks promises to be a great read.  I received this in audio last week and now to have it in book form too….. AWESOME!


This is a January blog tour that I am a little pumped to look into.   As busy and stressed out as I have been lately, this book may be just the pick me I need to get me back on track in the new year.


I read Pamela Samuelson for the first time earlier this year and loved her style.  Now I have a chance to join forces with her again in her new book, Buying Time.  Oh yeah – that’s a book mark over to the right…… uh huh.


Woo Hoo!  Now here’s a book that I opened up the pack age to today and was super excited!  Author of the Ya Ya Sisterhood (which of course I loved!)


And check this out!  I won not one, not two, but three giveaways for December at J Kaye’s blog!  Not only did that super rock – but they area all audio too which has become my favorite car pastime.  Thank you J Kaye!

There it is – My Mailbox.  What did you get in yours?  Be sure to stop over at Story Siren’s Blog and link your post! 😉

Morning Meanderings…

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)31 Comments

So here is the result of my super woman attempts this week to be all that I can be and get up early and work out with my friend Jenifer at 6:00 am daily:   A for effort……  D- for over all results

I had no idea how much that would throw off my schedule.  Or maybe it is just the wrong time of year but I really ended up feeling I was being pulled like taffy in 20 different directions.  I had to stop and review my week since last Friday:

  • Friday – worked out, worked, Builders Christmas Party

  • Saturday – oil change, picked up Chance, met Justin in St Cloud for a day of hanging out (hour from home) Justin  is now home from college until mid January

  • Sunday – All day all Brad, then drove Brad in a snow storm to Fargo ( 2 1/2 hours away) to get him to where he needed to be to catch his plane on Monday for boot camp.  Drove back (another 2 1/2 hours) in snow storm home about 11:30 pm.

  • Monday – one of our trucks break down so I have to drive to St Cloud to bring back the driver of the truck (another road trip).  Dinner that evening with friends where we giggled and talked a lot and I didnt get back home until after 9 pm

  • Tuesday- Up to start the workouts with Jennifer and meet her at 6:30 am only to find out I should have been there at 6.  Worked in office all day, home work, dinner, shot.

  • Wednesday – up to do the 6 am thing, in office by 8 (pretty impressive!) working on large project that has to be done this week, stay late, get home, son wants to hang out and do a movie, so I scrap my evening plan (because we do anything for our kids!) and go to a movie with him then come home and hang out with him until I drop – but want him to drop first.

  • Thursday – 6 am workout…. in office by 8 am (yay – but a tired yay!) huge project includes a mail merge, 1200 names…. not going well, needs to hit the mail on Friday and I wind up staying in office until 5 pm.  Rush then to get pizza for my hubby as I have not planned dinner, up until almost midnight.

I tell you all this because I have to share with you the result of my super woman attempt.  I was in the office yesterday early (as stated) and being the first one in the office I made the coffee, did a little straightening, etc.  Around noon, I realized I had been so busy I had skipped my morning oatmeal which is a a daily ritual for me.  I go back in the office kitchen and proceed to put the oatmeal in a coffee filter.  Yup.  I did not pull out a bowl…. but put it in the coffee filter.

Unbelievable!  I am so thankful I caught it and didn’t run it through the coffee pot too!

So today – I skipped the morning work out.  I slept until 6:45 am and leisurely got up and got my coffee and now at 7:40 am… I am still here, relaxing.  I wont give up on the morning workouts, I just think I will switch them up to every other day.  Today I work in the office to continue prepping the mailing.  Fridays a re normally my day off but it didn’t work out that way this week.  Tonight we have our company Christmas Party.  Another busy day.

Any crazy stories you would like to share so the oatmeal incident doesn’t seem so “call the men with the straight jackets“?

Giveaway: I, ALex Cross by James Patterson (audio)

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)65 Comments

Thank you to Hachette Audio Book Group for letting me have three of these audio books for giveaway!

Am I on a Patterson kick or what?  🙂

You can’t run

Detective Alex Cross is pulled out of a family celebration and given the awful news that a beloved relative has been found brutally murdered. Alex vows to hunt down the killer, and soon learns that she was mixed up in one of Washington’s wildest scenes. And she was not this killer’s only victim.

You can’t hide

The hunt for the murderer leads Alex and his girlfriend, Detective Brianna Stone, to a place where every fantasy is possible, if you have the credentials to get in. Alex and Bree are soon facing down some very important, very protected, very dangerous people in levels of society where only one thing is certain—they will do anything to keep their secrets safe.

Alex Cross is your only hope to stay alive

As Alex closes in on the killer, he discovers evidence that points to the unimaginable—a revelation that could rock the entire world. With the unstoppable action, unforeseeable twists, and edge-of-your-seat suspense that only a James Patterson thriller delivers, I, Alex Cross is the master of suspense at his sharpest and best.


I have 3 of these to give away – here is how you can enter!

For one entry: Leave a comment here letting me know your favorite genre

(*you must answer the question to be entered!)

Extra Entries?  Sure!

For an additional entry tweet or blog about this giveaway and leave me a link here on a separate comment

Be a follower of this blog and let me know here (for another entry) or subscribe to this blog and let me know here on a separate comment and have two extra entries (doing both would be three extra entries)

That’s it – giveaway will end January 19.  USA and Canada entrants only.

Giveaway: The Murder Of King Tut by James Patterson (audio)

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)70 Comments

Thank you to Hachette Audio Book Group for letting me have three of these audio books for giveaway!

Synopsis

A secret buried for centuries

Thrust onto Egypt’s most powerful throne at the age of nine, King Tut’s reign was fiercely debated from the outset. Behind the palace’s veil of prosperity, bitter rivalries and jealousy flourished among the Boy King’s most trusted advisors, and after only nine years, King Tut suddenly perished, his name purged from Egyptian history. To this day, his death remains shrouded in controversy.

The keys to an unsolved mystery

Enchanted by the ruler’s tragic story and hoping to unlock the answers to the 3,000 year-old mystery, Howard Carter made it his life’s mission to uncover the pharaoh’s hidden tomb. He began his search in 1907, but encountered countless setbacks and dead-ends before he finally, uncovered the long-lost crypt.

The clues point to murder

Now, in The Murder of King Tut, James Patterson and Martin Dugard dig through stacks of evidence–X-rays, Carter’s files, forensic clues, and stories told through the ages–to arrive at their own account of King Tut’s life and death. The result is an exhilarating true crime tale of intrigue, passion, and betrayal that casts fresh light on the oldest mystery of all.


I have 3 of these to give away – here is how you can enter!

For one entry: Leave a comment here letting me know your favorite genre

(*you must answer the question to be entered!)

Extra Entries?  Sure!

For an additional entry tweet or blog about this giveaway and leave me a link here on a separate comment

Be a follower of this blog and let me know here (for another entry) or subscribe to this blog and let me know here on a separate comment and have two extra entries (doing both would be three extra entries)

That’s it – giveaway will end January 17.  USA and Canada entrants only.

A Blue and Gray Christmas by Joan Medlicott

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)10 Comments


When a rusty old tin box is unearthed at the Covington Homestead, longtime housemates Grace, Amelia, and Hannah discover that it contains letters and diaries written by two Civil War soldiers, one Union and one Confederate.

The friends are captivated by the drama revealed. The soldiers were found dying on a nearby battlefi eld by an old woman. She nursed them back to health, hiding them from bounty hunters seeking deserters. At the end of the war the men chose to stay in Covington, caring for their rescuer as she grew frail. But while their lives were rich, they still felt homesick and guilty for never contacting the families they’d left behind.

Christmas is coming, and the letters inspire Amelia with a generous impulse. What if she and her friends were to find the two soldiers’ descendants and invite them to Covington to meet? What better holiday gift could there be than the truth about these two heroic men and their dramatic shared fate? With little time left, the ladies spring into action to track down the men’s families in Connecticut and the Carolinas, and to make preparations in Covington for their most memorable, most historic Christmas yet.


A sweet read for this time of year.  Joan Medlicott warmed my heart with her story of the amazing women that set out to make an amazing Christmas for perfect strangers.  I really felt that this book captured within its pages the meaning of Christmas – of giving from the heart. The letters were touching and I easily placed myself along side Grace, Amelia, and Hannah as they were read, imagining the two soldiers of 1864 scraping out these words.

I really enjoyed the three women’s characters as they were colorful and likable.  All this inside a darling little hard cover book that is really a gift in itself!


Joan Medlicott was born and raised on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. She lives with her husband in the mountains of North Carolina.


I received my review copy from Sarah Reidy and Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster