I arrived back home this afternoon and then had a 50th wedding anniversary for my aunt and uncle, followed by a bonfire with friends. I am exhausted – but excited to share with you the great reads I completed this weekend and what arrived in my mailbox this past week.
All of this will have to wait until Monday as I am so tired out! Lots of info coming your way – this should be a great week! Come back often! 🙂
My heart broke for a young girl who carried too much… and I rejoiced for the young woman, who learned to love again. ~ Sheila
Anna has grown up haunted by her younger sister’s death. In the life she constructs as a barrier against the emotional 
wreckage of her family tragedy, Anna settles comfortably into a career as a teacher of deaf children. But a challenge arrives—in the form of a young girl. Adrea’s disarming vulnerability and obvious need for love offer Anna the possibility of reconnecting with the world around her—if she has the courage to open her heart.
Author, Rachel Stolzman sent me her book along with two to give away which I had done earlier, when I interviewed Rachel the end of July. I was excited to finally have the opportunity to sit down with her book over the past few days and really let myself sink in to what this book was about.
The book opens with what I would think of as every parents worst nightmare… what is interesting is that this books focus is more on how the sister Anna has grown up with the grief of the loss of her sister.
With this book I entered a world I have not known… the world of sign language as Anna grows into adulthood and becomes a teacher for deaf children… even adopting one of the children she has worked with, Adrea. While reading through the new relationship struggles between Anna (now mother) and Andrea.. I found myself almost holding my breath to see how this would break down the barriers that Anna was still holding tight to in the loss of her sister.
This is a book where I learned more about a world of silence… that spoke volumes once I entered it.
I received this book from the author, Rachel Stolzman
I rate this book PG
This giveaway is closed…. winner was drawn on Sept 25 and the winner is Brenda Rupp
Welcome to freebie Fridays, where I post a book for giveaway each week and I annouce a winner the following Friday.This is the first novel in the widely acclaimed series.
A pleasing novel about Mma (aka Precious) Ramotswe, Botswana’s one and only lady private detective. A series of vignettes linked to the establishment and growth of Mma Ramotswe’s “No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency” serve not only to entertain but to explore conditions in Botswana in a way that is both penetrating and light thanks to Smith’s deft touch. Mma Ramotswe’s cases come slowly and hesitantly at first: women who suspect their husbands are cheating on them; a father worried that his daughter is sneaking off to see a boy; a missing child who may have been killed by witchdoctors to make medicine; a doctor who sometimes seems highly competent and sometimes seems to know almost nothing about medicine. The desultory pace is fine, since she has only a detective manual, the frequently cited example of Agatha Christie and her instincts to guide her. Mma Ramotswe’s love of Africa, her wisdom and humor, shine through these pages as she shines her own light on the problems that vex her clients.
Have fun! 🙂
Before I left for the cabin this morning I pulled our winner using random.org. for the book
Our winner is:
Winners are notified by email.
I am out of town until late on Sunday… I am “Sheila unplugged” for the weekend at our cabin, however this leaves a great opportunity for reading time! 
I will catch up with responding to comments upon my return!
Oh and for the record…. one person guessed my middle name right… nice job Ryan! It is Ann.
Coffee cup and I are always up for a good read. Recently I was visiting several of my blogging friends and was stopped short at My Book Buddies when I seen this book that is on my wish list. Rooftops of Tehran appeals to me. I love the cover. the title makes me envision starry nights and people seeking the roof tops for a variety of reasons…
Don’t take my word for it – stop over to My Book Buddies and see this book for yourself. This is one I really can not wait to have a change to read.
I am out of town until late on Sunday… I am “Sheila unplugged” for the weekend at our cabin, however this leaves a great opportunity for reading time! 🙂 I will catch up with responding to comments upon my return!
** This is a sticky post – meaning this post will stay on top for weekend but new posts will be below! 🙂
We are finally catching a little break and Al and I are heading to our cabin on the North Shore for the weekend. While I will be taking my lap top (I am like Linus and the lap top is my security blanket) I do not believe I will have access to the internet unless I actively seek it out! That being said, you can see here that I am reading ready – even though I have a book case full of unread books at the cabin.
What I am taking with amounts to two blog tour reads for next week, a book on Minnesota, and a couple bonus books! 🙂
While I am away I still have posts prepped to come out throughout the weekend so stop by! I have a book review, morning meanderings and more!
I will be home later Sunday to post In My Mailbox and on Monday we will tackle the CNN bookshelf! Yeah!
What are your plans for the weekend?
♥Have a safe and happy weekend everyone! ♥
Sheila
For the last couple of days you have heard me gushing about the YA fantasy I just completed. After 
reading the book, I knew I wanted to know more about the author behind this amazing fantasy, Laura Bingham. Laura and I had first connected in July when she offered me the opportunity to read her book. I connected with her again with questions after I had finished Alvor and Laura was gracious enough to drop everything and come visit me at One Persons Journey Through a World of Books. (Ok ok, maybe she didn’t drop everything… but she did answer my questions that I am now going to share with you. 🙂
Please welcome, Laura Bingham.
Sheila: Hi Laura! Thanks for stopping by today! Pull up a chair, grab a cup of coffee, and lets chat awhile! I just finished reading your book Alvor and loved it!
Laura: Yes! So glad to hear.
Laura: Good question with kind of a bizarre answer. The whole story fell into my head about five minutes after I said that I’ve always wanted to write a book- but I didn’t always want to write a book. I still don’t know why I said that or why the story came to me.
Sheila: Did you have a set audience in mind for this read when you wrote Alvor?
Laura: I wanted to write a story that captured the elements of my favorite kids/YA books. It was meant for kids and teens, but I also wanted the story to have an element that sucked adults into it as well.
Sheila: Is this your first book?
Laura: Yes, the first of many.
Sheila: Well that is exciting news! I really enjoyed how you used twins, a boy (Bain) and a girl (Erin) as the main characters. Why did you create twins for this main role in your book?
Laura: That’s the way the story came to me. I even tried to figure out how to make the story not be about twins, but it didn’t work. It had to be twins. It helped that I have my own set of boy/girl twins and could project some of their characteristics into the story.
Sheila: The word “Alvor” to me just speaks of mystery and fantasy… I look at the cover of your book and knew from first site that I wanted to read it. Where did the title come from? Does it have special meaning?
Laura: Before I started writing, I spent a week researching the elements in the story to build a stronger foundation. That’s when I stumbled across alvor, alva and alv. They are Scandinavian words that speak of old legends. Alvor means fairy, but also the Latin root vor means truth- I couldn’t pass up such a perfect title.
Sheila: Growing up did you have a favorite book?
Laura: Growing up I wanted a favorite book. I read Watership Down, The Lord of the Rings books, and tons of junky books about babysitting or freaky girls- but none of them really were my favorite. It wasn’t until I graduated from college that I finally started finding books that I loved.
Sheila: Do you have a favorite read or author now?
Laura: That’s a tough one. I admire different authors for different reasons. Some for the way they write and others for the way they broke out into the world with no fan base and a small press. I have so many favorites now that I hate listing them.
Sheila: What is a little known fact about you?
Laura: I spent a month touring Australia and New Zealand with a college dance team and I performed clogging, modern, jazz, ballroom and some folk dances. Most people put me in a clogging box since I own a clogging studio- but I have spent years doing other things. I coached drill team for a year, have competed in ballroom and Irish dance and have taught ballet, jazz and (swallowing hard) tap. Yes, tap. My Cloggers don’t even know that about me.
Laura: My second book is undergoing revisions and editing right now. I love book 2. In so many ways I have liked it even more than the first one. As it stands- there will be a third book in the series as well.
Sheila: A second and a third book? Oh I cant wait! That is such great news!
Thank you Laura! Your time is appreciated and I hope that many of the readers here will go out and purchase Alvor. I think this is an incredible read with a bright future!
This is the weekly meme where I encourage anyone who wishes to play along to take those crazy word verifications they have had over the past week and create a fake definition for them (much like how you play the board game Balderdash). This is all in fun and makes commenting on blogs a bit more interesting when the verification may just give you the best definition of the week! See original post here.
So here is what I have:
seend: When you hit the send button on an email and it takes forever (forever being 5 seconds as opposed to the 1 second we are used to)
“I am so sorry Mrs. Johnson that you have not received that email… it is still in seend mode.”
Mythman: Much like Super Man but this dude creates Myths… and he has a better tan. 🙂
“A long long time ago up in the mountains of Alaska there lives a creature, at least according to Mythman….”
Catera: Equal rights for cats.
Mittens now eats off china dishes and always gets first pick of the fish dinner because of the Catera.
relicat: a cat that you know darn well has used up more than its nine lives yet haggard looking, and missing one eye, it still keeps on going!
(And my personal fav of the week)
Purexeo: A spell used used by Harry Potter to get his shirts their whitest!
I would love to see what you come up with! To do your own, simply grab the picture meme and add it to your own post. Link back to this post and leave a comment here letting my know you have and I will add your blog post to this one so people may see other participants. Let the fun begin!
This Girls Ever Expanding Library
I am running behind on closing up my giveaways! I am starting tonight with my friend and author, Sarah Lindberg who
generously granted me an interview and 2 copies of each of her great books, Life’s Compass for Eternal Treasure, and His Hope for your Destiny, and a book on CD of her second book, His Hope for your Destiny
How super cool is this? Well I just drew the winners using random.org and I am ready to announce our winners!!!
Congratulations Winners!!! *winners have been notified by email and have until Tuesday Sept. 7 (due to holiday weekend) to respond with mailing info.
I am hopeful that Sarah is still planning to travel this way this fall as we have a plan to go do coffee and catch up!
I have done what I said I wouldn’t do… I have again received a few awards that I have let sit in the corner and gather dust. So tonight I am trying to do a bit of blog catch up (all the things I have wanted to, needed to, catch up on but just have not had the time.
I am posting these awards tonight and will add who I will pass these on to in the upcoming week.
Look what Melissa from My World send my way!
The Superior Scribbler Award is a Scholastic Scribe Original!
How sweet is she? Have you seen her blog? She has some great books that she has reviewed – I recommend you check them out!
That wonderful Ryan over at Wordsmithonia has sent me this wonderful award.
Being a recipient of this award affirms that this blog invests and believes in the Proximity – nearness in space, time and relationships. This blog receives this great award as a further way to reiterate that it is exceedingly charming, and aims to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers!
Ryans blog always has something wonderful on it and watch for his post tomorrow morning (Thursday) for word verification Balderdash. He really cracks me up!
This new to me award came from the amazing Rachel of Bookworm Wannabe.
This award goes out to those who you can count on for a comment. They not only visit often but they comment often and make your blog exciting with great points of interest!
Rachel has a good variety of book reviews and a fun blog! Stop over and see what she is all about!
The “Me To You” award was also passed on to me from Rachel at Bookworm Wannabe.
This award is a friendly thank you to those who make my blog feel warm and fuzzy like a teddy bear. I am so thankful for the contributions of these people!
What a super cool chick Rachel is! 🙂
I plan to pass these on after the weekend. I have a crazy busy day tomorrow and the Super Hero (hubby) is anxious for us to get on the road and go to our cabin. He wants to leave tomorrow evening and I was hoping for Friday at noon so I would have time to finish up on some stuff…. I guess we will see. 🙂
Book Journey 