eat the cookie… buy the shoes by Joyce Meyer

Thank you to Hachette Faithwords for letting me review this book and to give three copies away!

This giveaway is closed



Engrained in our culture is the belief that unbending discipline is the only sure way to success. You must go to the gym five times a week, never order the dessert, and don’t even think about buying that dress you keep staring at in the store window. Breaking from such a regimented lifestyle is a sign of weakness, right? Wrong!-and Joyce wants to tell us why…

Though setting rules in our lives are important, it’s just as important that we break them from time-to-time. Structure is a powerful tool, but when diverging from your own goals is seen as catastrophic, it can have a hugely negative effect on us. Balance is a core value in life and every once in awhile we deserve to indulge in a guilty pleasure or two. So don’t feel bad about straying from your goals every once-in-awhile and in fact, embrace it: eat the cookie and buy the shoes!

How To Enter this Giveaway

Leave a comment here with one guilty pleasure you try to limit yourself on.


Want more chances to win?

For two extra chances to win, become a subscriber  (or be a current subscriber) of this blog (do this in the upper right side bar) and let me know in a separate comment here

Blog about this giveaway and let me know in a separate comment and receive two more entries

Twitter about this giveaway or link to this giveaway on Facebook and let me know here for another entry

This giveaway will end on May 11.  USA and Canada only please

Admission by Jean Hanff Korelitz (GIVEAWAY!)

Thank you to Hachette Book Group for the offer of this book for review and for giveaway!

This giveaway is now closed

For years, 38-year-old Portia Nathan has avoided the past, hiding behind her busy (and sometimes punishing) career as a Princeton University admissions officer and her dependable domestic life. Her reluctance to confront the truth is suddenly overwhelmed by the resurfacing of a life-altering decision, and Portia is faced with an extraordinary test. Just as thousands of the nation’s brightest students await her decision regarding their academic admission, so too must Portia decide whether to make her own ultimate admission.

How To Enter this Giveaway

Before you read the description of what this book was about – by looking at the cover and tit,e let me know in a comment here what you may have thought the book could be about.


Bonus Entries?  Sure!

For an additional two entries for the giveaway be a subscriber to this blog (upper right hand sidebar) and let me know in a separate comment here.

Tweet or blog about this giveaway and let me know here in another comment and I will add in another entry

This giveaway will be open until May 2.   USA and Canada entries only please.

Have fun and good luck!

Hasta La Vista Lola! by Misa Ramirez – GIVEAWAY

When Lola comes home to her parents’ house to find a horde of relatives mourning her death, no one is more surprised than she is. The news had reported that one Lola Cruz, PI was found murdered in an alley, causing great alarm in the Cruz family. Before Lola can say “boo,” a cop comes to the house. It turns out the dead woman had a driver’s license with Lola’s information. Between avoiding an unsavory ex-boyfriend, sorting out mixed signals from the very interested but not yet committed Jack Callaghan, and filling in as a waitress at her parents’ Mexican restaurant, Lola tries to find out who the woman was and why she stole her identity. Was the woman hiding from someone who meant her harm, or is there someone out there who wants Lola dead?

This follow-up to Ramirez’s debut novel, Living the Vida Lola, is a red-hot, fun-filled mystery. Lola, a black belt in kung fu who loves to salsa dance, makes for a sexy, unique, and vivacious detective.


I read this book in late 2009 and loved the wonderful, full of life character that is Lola.  Starting out by walking in on her own wake.  Yes – her own wake!  And the craziness does not stop there… page by page you fall in love with this fun loving family and everything they bring along with them.

I really picked up on a Janet Evanovich “Stephanie Plum” type vibe in this book so if you are a fan of the great Evanovich series, I believe you will be rolling with laughter at this one as well.

My Amazon Rating


So… enough already… how can you enter to win this book?

Lola is a modern American woman of the Latina Heritage.  She is smart and fun and if you were the winner of this book let me know the setting of where you would “virtually” be reading this book and what delicious beverage is in your hand?  (IE… perhaps you are on the deck of a cruise ship drinking the best frosty raspberry iced tea you have ever had the pleasure of tasting…)  This question must be answered to be entered in this giveaway.

For all that work on the first entry all there bonus entries?  (optional)

Of course!  Subscribe to this blog – upper right sidebar, and receive two extra entries – let me know in a separate comment here

For another entry – blog or tweet about this giveaway and let me know in a separate comment here

That’s it!  USA and Canada entries only please.  This giveaway will end on April 19th.

Have fun!

Worst Case by James Patterson (Audio Giveaway)

Thank you Hachette – I am in the mood for a giveaway and Hachette has allowed me to have three of these audios to do so!

Best case: Survival
The son of one of New York’s wealthiest families is snatched off the street and held hostage. His parents can’t save him, because this kidnapper isn’t demanding money. Instead, he quizzes his prisoner on the price others pay for his life of luxury. In this exam, wrong answers are fatal.

Worst case: Death
Detective Michael Bennett leads the investigation. With ten kids of his own, he can’t begin to understand what could lead someone to target anyone’s children. As another student disappears, another powerful family uses their leverage and connections to turn up the heat on the mayor, the press—anyone who will listen—to stop this killer. Their reach extends all the way to the FBI, which sends its top Abduction Specialist, Agent Emily Parker. Bennett’s life—and love life—suddenly get even more complicated.

This case: Detective Michael Bennett is on it
Before Bennett has a chance to protest the FBI’s intrusion on his case, the mastermind changes his routine. His plan leads up to the most devastating demonstration yet—one that could bring cataclysmic ruin to every inch of New York City. From the shocking first page to the last exhilarating scene, Worst Case is a nonstop thriller from “America’s #1 storyteller” (Forbes).


I am currently listening to this audio in my car and really enjoying it!

How To Enter

Leave a comment here answering this question:  If James Patterson came toy our house for dinner, what are you serving? (1 entry and you must answer question for other entries to count)

Bonus Entries

For an additional 2 entries – be a subscriber to this blog (upper right sidebar) – new or old and let me know in a separate comment

For another entry – blog or tweet about this giveaway and let me know in a separate comment here


There you go!  A possibility of 4 entries.  Giveaway will be on until April 20th.  USA and Canada only entries.


Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs w/ Giveaway!

A mother who cannot face her future.
A daughter who cannot escape her past.

Lady Elisabeth Kerr is a keeper of secrets. A Highlander by birth and a Lowlander by marriage, she turns to the auld ways, desperate to conceal a generations-old scandal that taints her family’s name.

Her husband, Lord Donald, has secrets of his own, well hidden from the household, yet whispered among the town gossips. Elisabeth cannot–must

His mother, the dowager Lady Marjory, hides gold beneath her floor and guilt inside her heart. Though her two abiding passions are maintaining her place in society and coddling her grown sons, Marjory’s many regrets, buried in Greyfriars Churchyard, continue to plague her.

One by one the Kerr family secrets begin to surface, even as bonny Prince Charlie and his rebel army ride into Edinburgh in September 1745, intent on capturing the crown. not–discover the truth, or all will be ruined.

There is nothing like the feeling of reading a book that makes you feel like you dropped into the pages to explore the world it proved for yourself.  That is the best way I can describe the feeling of this book.

I do enjoy historical fiction and this read and this one hit home with me.   I found that Liz Curtis Higgs has taken a page out of Francine Rivers book and wrote  in the likes on Naomi and Ruth out of the Bible, making the story come to light in new ways. The Scottish setting was interesting, yet some of the language distracted me from the read.

While many characters are not appealing to me because it is too many story lines to keep track of, I appreciated that the book mainly focuses on two of the characters, Elizabeth and Marjory.  While the book was a little long, I did enjoy it and was glad to welcome back author Liz Curtis Higgs to my reading room.


LIZ CURTIS HIGGS is the author of twenty-seven books with three million copies in print, including: her best-selling historical novels, Thorn in My Heart, Fair Is the Rose, Christy Award-winner Whence Came a Prince, and Grace in Thine Eyes, a Christy Award finalist; My Heart’s in the Lowlands: Ten Days in Bonny Scotland, an armchair travel guide to Galloway; and her contemporary novels, Mixed Signals, a Rita Award finalist, and Bookends, a Christy Award finalist. Visit the author’s extensive website at www.lizcurtishiggs.com

AND – there is a giveaway!  To enter this giveaway leave a comment here telling me what book by Liz Curtis Higgs would you be interested in reading (besides this one) or what other book have you read by her.

For additional entries:

Be a subscriber of this blog and let me know in a separate comment here for 2 extra entries (subscribe in upper right sidebar)

Tweet or blog about this giveaway and let me know in a separate comment for another entry

Giveaway will end on April 6 – USA and Canada only please

My review copy came from Waterbrook Multnomah


God Never Blinks by Regina Brett Giveaway

Thank you to Hachette Book Group for three copies of this wonderful book for giveaway!

This giveaway is closed

When Regina Brett turned 50, she wrote a column on the 50 lessons life had taught her. She reflected on all she had learned through becoming a single parent, looking for love in all the wrong places, working on her relationship with God, battling cancer and making peace with a difficult childhood. It became one of the most popular columns ever published in the newspaper, and since then the 50 lessons have been emailed to hundreds of thousands of people.
Brett now takes the 50 lessons and expounds on them in essays that are deeply personal. From “Don’t take yourself too seriously-Nobody else does” to “Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift,” these lessons will strike a chord with anyone who has ever gone through tough times–and haven’t we all?

How To win?

To be entered in this giveaway leave a comment here telling me what appeals to you about this book.

Bonus Entries?  Always!

For two additional entries, be a subscriber of this blog (upper right sidebar) and let me know that you are in a separate comment.

For another entry, tweet or blog about this giveaway and let me know in a separate comment.

And for yet one more additional entry, be a follower of this blog and let me know in a separate comment.

(The separate comments help me in adding up your correct entries)

This giveaway is open to USA and Canada.  Giveaway will end April 4.

This One Is Mine by Maria Semple – GIVEAWAY!!!

Hachette Book Group?  You rock!  Thanks for letting me give three copies of this book away!

This giveaway is now closed

Violet Parry is living the quintessential life of luxury in the Hollywood Hills with David, her rock-and-roll manager husband, and her darling toddler, Dot. She has the perfect life–except that she’s deeply unhappy. David expects the world of Violet but gives little of himself in return. When she meets Teddy, a roguish small-time bass player, Violet comes alive, and soon she’s risking everything for the chance to find herself again. Also in the picture are David’s hilariously high-strung sister, Sally, on the prowl for a successful husband, and Jeremy, the ESPN sportscaster savant who falls into her trap.

Sound good?  I thought so too!

To enter this give away enter with the form below and answer this question in the comment section:

This is not the cover you will see on the book sale sights, however I like this one better than the one they actually have on the book now. Reading the above synopsis of this book, how would you design the cover to capture the eye of potential book buyers?

This giveaway will end on April 1, 2010.  Good luck!

Slip Of The Knife by Denise Mina – GIVEAWAY!

Thank you to Hachette for the opportunity to give away three copies of this book!  You…. complete me!  🙂

This giveaway is now closed

Paddy Meehan is no stranger to murder–as a reporter she lives at crime scenes–but nothing has prepared her for this visit from the police. Her former boyfriend and fellow journalist Terry Patterson has been found hooded and shot through the head. Paddy knows she will be of little help–she had not seen Terry in more than six months. So she is bewildered to learn that in his will he has left her his house and several suitcases full of notes. Drawn into a maze of secrets and lies, Paddy begins making connections to Terry’s murder that no one else has seen, and soon finds herself trapped in the most important–and dangerous–story of her career.

How do you enter?  Please fill out the form that is linked here and answer this question in the comment section:

Reading the synopsis above, what would you have titled this book?

(Feel free to be creative and even funny)


Good luck everyone!  This giveaway will end on March 28th 

The Girl She Used To Be by david cristofano- Giveaway!

Thank you so much to Hachette Book Group who have given me three (3!!!!) of these books to give away!

This giveaway is now closed – Thank you 🙂

When Melody Grace McCartney was six years old, she and her parents witnessed an act of violence so brutal that it changed their lives forever. The federal government lured them into the Witness Protection Program with the promise of safety, and they went gratefully. But the program took Melody’s name, her home, her innocence, and, ultimately, her family. She’s been May Adams, Karen Smith, Anne Johnson, and countless others–everyone but the one person she longs to be: herself. So when the feds spirit her off to begin yet another new life in another town, she’s stunned when a man confronts her and calls her by her real name.

Does this sound super fab or what?

To Enter – please fill out this form at the link below and be sure to answer this question in the comment area below:

**You are in the witness protection program….  what would your name be – and where would you like to be located?

Fill out this form please

Thank everyone for entering – this giveaway will close on March 27.  Open to USA and Canada