Book Blogger Hop

It's that time of the week again! With the hugely successful first week, I'm happy to announce that the Book Blogger Hop will be a weekly feature over at Crazy-for-Books! So, get those party shoes on and let's start the Hop!

Her designer is working on the graphic and she should hopefully have it next week!! Missed out last week? Here's what the Hop is all about!

Every day I seem to find another book blog that I start following. In the spirit of the Friday Follow, I thought it would be cool to do a Book Blog Hop to give us all bookies a chance to connect and find new blogs that we may be missing out on! It will also give blog readers a chance to find other book blogs that they may not know existed!

So, if you'd like to participate, just repost this on your blog, sign MckLinky over at Crazy-For-Books, and check out other blogs in MckLinky! Let's connect and make new book bloggy friends!! So, if you consider yourself a book blogger, come join the fun!

Pretty please - Your blog should have content related to books, including, but not limited to book reviews.

  

Review: Double Play by Jill Shalvis

Double Play

Author: Jill Shalvis

Publication: Berkley; Original edition (July 7, 2009)

Product Description: With the end of his career looming, the last thing ace pitcher Pace Martin needs is a distraction, even if it comes in the form of a tough, beautiful, tell-it-like-it-is writer who sees past his defenses.

My Thoughts: This was a fun romance. Pace and Holly are a great couple. He is a star pitcher with shoulder trouble who thinks there is nothing in his life but baseball. She is a tough reporter who follows the stories and has never settled down enough to make friends or a home for herself. Holly has the job of writing about the baseball team; Pace wants to keep his private life private. They are fascinated with each other but wary. I liked the way they slowly learn to know each other and to trust each other. I love the sports setting. Baseball is my favorite sport. I liked the peek into a major league locker room and the comraderie among the players. This book was a great way to spend a rainy, gloomy day. Now I want to find another light romance to read preferably with a warm and sunny setting.

Challenges: 2010 E-Book Reading Challenge, RYOB Challenge

 

Traveling Through Tuesday

Do you like to read books that set in a certain city, state, or country? Do you ever find a town in a book that just calls your name and you can't wait to tell someone about it?

Well, Lori's Reading Corner is the place to spotlight the book you are currently reading with a new meme Traveling Through Tuesday.

What are your favorite settings in books? What location would you love to visit?

A huge thank you to Jen over at Crazy For Books for this wonderful NEW meme idea!

So, if you'd like to participate, just repost this, sign MckLinky, and check out other blogs in MckLinky! Let's check out where our book blogger friends have been and where they're going.

 

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I am at a boarding school in Charlottesville, Virginia in my most recent read. I have never actually been anywhere in the State of Virginia but the weather sounds wonderful to this Minnesota girl who is currently looking at the back end of winter with grey skies, fog, dirty slush, and nasty rotting snow piles dotting my landscape.

I'm reading Forget-Her-Nots by Amy Brecount White. This is Ms. White's debut YA novel and is a lovely read so far. I am enjoying the descriptions of the lovely flowers and learning about the language of flowers. (All my flowers have to be virtual as actual flowers make my eyes itch, plug up my nose, and make it hard for me to breathe.)

I don't really have a favorite locale. I like reading all kinds of books with all kinds of settings. I am a true armchair traveler. Although I do have a soft spot for Regency England (which would require traveling both through time and space).
 

Teaser Tuesday: Forget-Her-Nots by Amy Brecount White

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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Forget-Her-Nots

Author: Amy Brecount White

Publication: Greenwillow Books (March 2, 2010)

Laurel's memories were a mix of good and bad, light and dark. She had no idea how to dispel the darkness and summon the light. Tonight she needed to remember something--anything--to tell her what her mom wanted her to do. She twisted some myrtle--which also meant "pleasing reminiscences"--around the stem of rosemary.

I just started this one and am already very involved with Laurel as she grieves and learns about the language of flowers.

 

Prolific Blogger Award

The Prolific Blogger Award was given to me by my friend Bev at the Wormhole.  A Prolific Blogger is one who is intellectually productive...keeping up an active blog that is filled with enjoyable content. 

1. Every winner of the Prolific Blogger Award has to pass on this award to at least seven other deserving prolific bloggers. Spread some love!

 

2. Each Prolific Blogger must link to the blog from which he/she has received the award. (see above).

 

3. Every Prolific Blogger must link back to this post, which explains the origins and motivation for the award.

 

4. Every Prolific Blogger must visit this post and add his/her name in the Mr. Linky, so that we can get to know the other winners. (Click here for the Mr. Linky page).

  I am passing this award along to these Prolific Bloggers: 1. Kari at A Good Addiction 2. Abby at Abby (the) Librarian 3. Becky at Becky's Book Reviews 4. Steph at Steph Su Reads 5. Lindsey at The Book Guru 6. Jill at The O.W.L. 7. Chelsea at The Page Flipper  

Review: Slow Heat by Jill Shalvis

Slow Heat

Author: Jill Shalvis

Publication: Berkley; Original edition (February 2, 2010)

Product Description: Baseball player Wade O'Riley's bad-boy image is about to be cleaned up by publicist Samantha McNead. But the sexual tension between them is about to drive Wade to his knees.

My Thoughts: I used to love reading Harlequin Romances. Back in the days before the internet I lived a long way away from the nearest bookstore but Harlequin would send me boxes of books each month. I subscribed to the Desires, Intimate Moments, and Temptations among other series. Now, over time, I have gotten rid of most of my old Harlequins. But, if you look at the ones I have kept, most often they are about a professional athlete. I confess, I have this thing about professional athletes falling in love with an ordinary girl (wish fulfillment, much?) Anyway, when I saw this book that pairs a professional baseball player with the team's publicist, I knew I had to have it and had to read it soon. And the cover did not discourage me at all!!

Each chapter begins with a baseball-inspired quote. Chapter 1's is "Confucius say: Baseball wrong -- man with four balls cannot walk."  Chapter 3's is "Being with a woman all night never hurt no professional baseball player. It's staying up all night looking for a woman that does him in. --Casey Stengal" I like how the quotes relate to the themes of the chapters. It was fun to read the quote and try to figure out what the chapter would be about.

I loved this book. I liked the relationship between Samantha and Wade. Both of them were afraid to love because both had suffered through many of the same disappointments in the past. Wade was a poor boy from the wrong side of the tracks who grew up with an alcoholic father after being abandoned by his mother. Samantha was a rich girl from the best part of town who grew up with an indifferent, workaholic father after the death of her mother. It took a lot of courage to find each other and become convinced that the other would be there for them.

I liked the subplots too of Sam getting to know her nephew Tag who was living with her while his father, her younger brother, was in rehab. The other subplot has Wade dealing with his father who is also trying to stop drinking and build a relationship with Wade.

The book was filled with lots of emotional moments, funny moments and sexy moments. I highly recommend it for lovers of happy endings.

Favorite Quotes:

He stretched some more, straightening his arms above him, briefly exposing a flash of washboard abs between the hem of his shirt and the waistband of his jeans. Jeans that were faded at all the stress points. He had some very fine stress points.

But his tough-on-the-outside Sam was holding on to a surprisingly soft, tender, bruised heart on the inside, and it did something odd to his own heart.

Challenges: 2010 E-Book Reading Challenge, RYOB Reading Challenge

Review: Tiger's Curse and Tiger's Quest by Colleen Houck

Tiger's Curse

Author: Colleen Houck

Publication: Booksurge (September 22, 2009)

Product Description: Kelsey Hayes was just a freshman in high school when her parents were killed in an automobile accident, sending her into the foster-care system. After graduation, she takes a job at a circus in Oregon to earn money for college. There, she becomes fascinated with the star attraction, a white tiger named Dhiren. When the tiger is sold to the mysterious Mr. Kadam, Kelsey is heartbroken—until Mr. Kadam offers her a job as Dhiren’s traveling companion. Because of her strong affection for the tiger, she agrees . When their truck is hijacked on a dirt road outside of Mumbai, Dhiren leads Kelsey deep into the jungle. There, he reveals his true nature: he is a three-hundred-fifty-year-old Indian prince, cursed by an ancient magician to live out eternity as a tiger. Young-adult readers will be enthralled by this mystical adventure story of a girl who risks her life to save the man she comes to love.

Tiger's Quest

Author: Colleen Houck

Publication: Booksurge (October 4, 2009)

Product Description: When Kelsey Hayes sacrificed her own happiness to give her first love, Ren, a shot at a better life, she struggled to recover from the pain of her loss. The American girl and the handsome Indian prince made an unlikely couple, drawn together when Kelsey helped Ren break a centuries-old curse that doomed him to spend eternity in the guise of a white tiger. Ultimately, Kelsey chose to return to America, leaving Ren behind in India and immersing herself in the life of a typical college freshman. At school, she meets Li, a completely average guy who offers her an ordinary, curse-free life. But just when Kelsey believes she’s ready to move on, her past returns to draw her back into a whirlwind of danger—and love. The sweeping saga of tender romance and suspenseful adventure begun in Tiger’s Curse continues in Tiger’s Quest, the second installment of Colleen Houck’s engrossing young-adult series.

My Thoughts: These were very lengthy but exciting adventures. I enjoyed reading them most of the time. There was a little bit too much description. It sometimes broke the tension in a scene. I sometimes felt that the author was thinking something along the lines of "I did all this research and I'm going to use it". Overall it was an interesting couple of books to read. I liked learning about India. There was a lot of information about Indian mythology and culture. I liked the relationship between Kelsey and Ren in the first book and the relationship of Kelsey and Kishan in the second book. I liked that Kishan grew and got rid of some of the guilt that had been haunting him for hundreds of years. I don't know about forming teams in support of a favorite love interest (i.e. Team Peeta and Team Gale or Team Edward and Team Jacob) but at the end of book 2 I am rooting for Kishan. Ren seems like a man who is so changed as to not be lovable any more. The ending leaves Kelsey in a Bella in New Moon state of depression. The author says she was influenced by Twilight and this is one occasion when I can see some resemblance. I can see fans of Twilight and sequels becoming fans of this series too. Although there is much more magic and much more danger and adventure in these two stories.

I purchase both of these books for my Kindle. The first was on sale for $.99 which, along with the cover, convinced me to give it a try. The second was a more normal $6. 99. The books are available as print books but are rather expensive for what I assume are paperbacks.

Challenges: 2010 YA Reading Challenge, 2010 E-Book Reading Challenge, RYOB Reading Challenge