Jenn\'s Bookshelves

Teaser Tuesday, August 25

Posted on August 25, 2009 by Jenn

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 & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser this week comes from No Mercy by John Gilstrap:

“He’d seen a lot of people die in his time, and he always admired the ones who accepted their fate with guts. Good guy or bad, heaven reserved places for those who showed currage to the end. “

What’s your teaser this week?

Posted in Teaser Tuesday | 7 Comments

Fall is in the Air! Time to Reorganize!

Posted on August 24, 2009 by Jenn

I’m really not that big a fan of summer. I detest hot weather. There are perks, however. Less traffic due to no school. I have more free time in the evenings since my oldest doesn’t have homework. More time for reading makes me a happy camper!

Fall is definitely in the air, however. A welcome change to the sweltering heat! I’ve noticed that the mornings are cooler. The sun is rising later. I can almost feel Fall trying to scoot in. I love fall. It’s probably my favorite season. I love the changing colors of the foliage. In the area in which I live, it’s like driving through a watercolor painting. The colors are so vivid and bright. And I absolutely love back to school shopping! I loved it as a kid, and I love it still as an adult. We start early, in July, so we don’ t have to deal with the horrible crowds and digging through the leftover supplies. And, oh how I wish it would be acceptable for me to carry a trapper keeper to work! Or use glittery pencils with multi-colored erasers!

A big thing we do at our house this time of year is reorganize! With the fall, not only does it bring school but it also begins my busy travel time of the year. So, by organizing and decluttering, it helps make our days run smoother and our lives less hectic.

I was ecstatic when I was contacted by CSN Office Furniture inviting me to review one of their products. Several other bloggers were contacted and decided to review bookshelves. Now, I could definitely use another bookshelf, but keeping in line with this whole theme of organizing, I decided to review an item that would keep our family more organized. Because not only does CSN home office furniture sell bookshelves and other office equipment, it also sells some great organizational pieces! So I began to think of an area in our house that could stand a bit of organizing. I instantly thought of my son’s room, specifically his video game console/collection.

The item I will be reviewing is the Four-Tier Wire Gaming Tower. I just love all the storage space it provides, and even more importantly, the hooks for the controllers! Currently, my son just throws them in a drawer and the cords get all twisted and bent. With this new system, I’m hoping my son will be able to keep this area of his room a little neater.

So, check back in a few weeks for my review. And, if my son is willing, I will post a before and after picture of his video game area!

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

I've Joined the Middle Grade Book Challenge!

Posted on August 24, 2009 by Jenn

I can’t believe it myself, but I’ve signed up for yet another challenge! The Middle Grade Book Challenge is sponsored by Bambi Reads. Here are the details:

1. Anyone can join.

2. Read 12 middle grade novels (Challenge 1) or read 25 MG books (Challenge 2). You can read comics too, or listen to audio books. These can be in any language. You don’t have to make a reading list now; you may select them as you go and you’re free to make changes to your list.

3. The challenge begins September 1st, 2009 through August 31st, 2010.

4. You can join anytime between now and August 31st, 2010.

Sounds like a great challenge, doesn’t it!? I read a good deal of Middle-Grade books with my ten- year-old son, so this is the perfect challenge for us to do together!

I’m aiming for Challenge 2 (25 MG books). Here are the books we’ll start off with:

39 Clues series (currently 5 books in this series)
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Savvy by Ingrid Law
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse by Kaleb Nation Completed
Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carman
Ghost in the Machine (Skeleton Creek, Book Two) by Patrick Carman

I need your input! What middle grade books should we add to our list?

Posted in MG Book Challenge | 6 Comments

It's Monday, What Are You Reading This Week?

Posted on August 24, 2009 by Jenn

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading This Week? This is a weekly event to list the books completed last week, the books currently being reading, and the books to be finish this week. It was created by J.Kaye’s Book Blog, so stop by and join in!

Books Completed Last Week

Babydoll by Allyson Roy
Fade to Blue by Sean Beaudoin
Nothing but Ghosts by Beth Kephart

Currently Reading:

No Mercy by John Gilstrap
The Black Echo by Michael Connelly (audiobook)

Books to Complete This Week:

I have a lot of great books to read in the next few weeks. I’m very excited about many of them (I wonder which ones they are!?)

Alex Cross’s TRIAL by James Patterson
Homer’s Odyssey by Gwen Cooper
Evil at Heart by Chelsea Cain
Jack Wakes Up by Seth Harwood
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Fragment by Warren Fahy

What are you reading this week?

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

The Winner of The Disobedient Girl is…

Posted on August 24, 2009 by Jenn

I’ve emailed Kristen to obtain her mailing address. Thank you to all that entered. Remember, you still have a few days to enter to win Babydoll by Allyson Roy!

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Book Blogger Appreciation Week! Can You Feel the Excitement?

Posted on August 20, 2009 by Jenn

I think I’ve drilled this into your heads already, but Book Blogger Appreciation Week is coming up soon: September 14-18, 2009. Nominees for the various categories have been nominated and I love the excitement I see on twitter when people tweet what category they have been nominated for. The enthusiasm is overwhelming!

Well, Jenn’s Bookshelf has been nominated for Best Reviews! I woke up to find the email waiting for me. I’m suprised, humbled, and honored! Thank you to whomever nominated me!

I also have to thank the awards committee that has been spending a tremendous amount of time sending out these notificiations. It’s a lot of hard work, and we all appreciate your dedication to spreading the excitement about book bloggers!

So, I have until midnight tomorrow (Friday, August 21st) to come up with 5 posts that most reflect my blog and this category. It’s going to be a lot of fun to go back and reflect over the posts I’ve done over the past year, and to see how much Jenn’s Bookshelf has grown and matured.

Be sure to keep following the BBAW blog and be sure to vote for your favorite blogs! Voting starts Monday, September 7 and ends on September 12 at 11:59 PM EST.

Posted in Blog Post, Book Blogger Appreciation Week (BBAW) | 14 Comments

Review, Blog Tour & Giveaway: Babydoll by Allyson Roy

Posted on August 19, 2009 by Jenn

Saylor Oz is a Brooklyn-based sex therapist. She spends her days curing couples of their sexual woes. But when the brother of her long-time friend gets arrested and convicted of serial murders, Saylor feels obligated to put on a detective hat and hunts for the true killer.

The murder victims were all models found around New York City. Each victim has a lock of hair missing. Saylor, a connoisseur of films of a sexual nature, realizes that she’s seen this somewhere before: an old movie entitled Bad, Bad, Babydoll. Saylor immediately begins investigating the cast of this movie and discovers some startling similarities to the crimes. She vows to stop at nothing, even putting herself in harms way, to help find the true killer.

Readers of Jenn’s Bookshelf know that I can’t stand when one author’s writing is compared to another. However, in the case of Babydoll, I can’t help but compare it to Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum novels. Saylor has the same no-holds-barred attitude as Stephanie Plum. I It’s not Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction, but an excellent read nonetheless. Several times I found myself laughing at loud. The emotions the reader experiences ranges from sorrow and hatred to tears-rolling-down-your face humor. The characters are stellar. Each has their own faults, but you can’t help but love them. And if that’s not enough, the storyline is very suspenseful. Just when you think you’ve solved the case, Roy throws in something from left field and forces you to reconsider.

While Babydoll is technically the second in a series of books, you lose nothing by not reading the first of the series, Aphrodisiac . Obviously, since the main character is a sex therapist, there is a good deal of sex in this book. It’s not overly graphic or raunchy in any way and completely appropriate for this book.

I highly recommend this one! A steamy thriller for your steamy summer evenings!

About the author:

Allyson Roy translates into Alice & Roy, husband and wife collaborating authors. Roy, a graduate of the University Of The Arts in Philadelphia, has a background in theater, art and standup comedy. Alice, dancer/choreographer/teacher, double majored in dance and philosophy at the State University of New York. They spent many gypsy years living and working in the different neighborhoods of New York City and Philadelphia. Aside from being marriage and writing partners, they are also best friends, which is reflected in the heartfelt, go-the-distance friendship of their two main characters.

Thanks to TLC Book Tours for allowing me to take part in this tour. And thanks to the publisher, Penguin, for providing a copy of this book for review.

Check out the other blogs participating in this tour:

Tuesday, August 18th: The Eclectic Book Lover
Wednesday, August 19th: Jenn’s Bookshelf
Tuesday, August 25th: Jen’s Book Thoughts
Wednesday, August 26th: Cheryl’s Book Nook
Thursday, August 27th: Reading With Monie
Monday, August 31st: Bookluver-Carol’s Reviews
Wednesday, September 2nd: Chick With Books
Thursday, September 3rd: Stephanie’s Confessions of a Book-a-holic
Tuesday, September 8th: GalleySmith
Wednesday, September 9th: Bookgasm
Thursday, September 10th: I’m Booking It

Now to the giveway! To enter, comment on this post. To earn extra entries, blog and/or tweet about it. Please include a direct link to your tweet or blog post in your comment. All comments must contain an email address. Comments received without email address will be automatically removed. Open to US and Canadian residents only. Winner will be announced on this blog on Friday, August 28th.

Posted in blog tour, Current Giveaways, Review | 59 Comments

Teaser Tuesday, August 18

Posted on August 18, 2009 by Jenn

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 & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser this week comes from Babydoll by Allyson Roy:

“We were out looking for an old coffee can with some dead person’s hair inside it when we ran into this guy smoking a joint who invited us into the wrong house, whereupon I clogged up his toilet, and you decided to lift three semi-automatics, twenty-one thousand in cash, and four bags of powder. And, let’s not forget I’m the sister of a convicted serial killer.”

Check back tomorrow for my review of Babydoll!

What’s your teaser this week?

Posted in Teaser Tuesday | Leave a comment

It's Monday, What Are You Reading This Week?

Posted on August 18, 2009 by Jenn

Books Completed Last Week

The Magicians by Lev Grossman
The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly
A Disobedient Girl by Ru Freeman

Currently Reading

Babydoll by Allyson Roy
The Black Echo by Michael Connelly (audiobook)
Fade to Blue by Sean Beaudoin

Books to Complete This Week

Nathan’s Run and No Mercy by John Gilstrap
Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
Alex Cross’s TRIAL by James Patterson

What are you reading this week?

Posted in It's Monday What Are you Reading This Week | 5 Comments

Review, Blog Tour, and Giveaway: A Disobedient Girl by Ru Freeman

Posted on August 17, 2009 by Jenn

Set in Sri Lanka, A Disobedient Girl tells the story of two women, Latha and Biso. Latha is raised in the priviledged household of the Vithanages. As a young child, her role is that of a friend to their only child, a daughter named Thara. As young girls, their status appears to be the same, but as Latha grows older she discovers that her destiny is that of a servant. She sees and experiences the difference in class and must come to deal with this painful realization. Biso is a mother of three, desperately attempting to get her and her three children away from her alcoholic and abusive husband. The reader follows Biso on her several day long journey to her mother’s family in the north.

Freeman’s writing is vivid and honest. The characters come alive on the pages of this debut novel. Freeman introduces us to two extremely strong women, attempting to survive in a world that attempts to oppress them. I have to strongly disagree with other reviews that indicated these two characters aren’t deserving of sympathy, that they deserved the lives they were forced to live. They couldn’t exactly rise up and overcome their oppressors. The lives they were leading were once forced upon them. They were born into this horrid system of ranking. The lengths they went to and the sacrifices they were forced to make earned them my undying respect.

In reading A Disobedient Girl I viewed a side of Sri Lankan culture that I hadn’t ever before. Freeman dealt with difficult issues that many are afraid to delve into. The journey the two women take is a painful search for independence and respect in a culture that restricts privileges due to class. A Disobedient Girl is a painful and devastating glimpse at this culture. I highly recommend this novel to any reader interested in learning about different cultures. It will open your eyes to these differences in cultures, and the plights that women are forced to deal with based purely on their sex. It also brings up a lot of points of discussion and would be the perfect book club joice as well. Reading this made me appreciate even more the rights I am afforded as a citizen of a democratic nation. This novel was set in the 1980s and 1990s and it is terrifying that situations like this existed in my lifetime. So rush to your local bookstore and pick up a copy; you won’t regret it.

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for giving me the opportunity to review this book, and to the publisher for providing me a review copy.

You can enter to win a copy of A Disobedient Girl! Thanks to the publisher, I have an extra copy to give away. To enter, comment on this post. For extra entries, tweet and/or blog about it. Your comment must contain your email address. Entries without this contact information will be authomatically deleted. Contest open to U.S. and Canada only. The winner will be announced on Monday, August 24. GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!

Following are additional stops on this tour.

Tuesday, August 18th: Worducopia
Thursday, August 20th: My Friend Amy
Monday, August 24th: Maw Books
Tuesday, August 25th: Lost in Books
Thursday, August 27th: Bibliophile by the Sea
Tuesday, September 1st: A Sea of Books
Tuesday, September 8th: Wordlily
Monday, September 14th: Shhh I’m Reading
Wednesday, September 16th: Savvy Verse and Wit
Thursday, September 17th: Ticket to Anywhere
Tuesday, September 22nd: Musings of a Bookish Kitty
Thursday, September 24th: Fizzy Thoughts
Monday, September 28th: Book Addiction
Wednesday, September 30th: Caribousmom