Early Birds Blog tour presents: The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrans

Thanks for stopping by on the last day of "The Castaway" Early Bird Blog Tour!!! I don't have my review ready yet, but hope to have it up soon!!! I love Elin Hilderbrand books!!!

Book Description:
Greg and Tess MacAvoy are one of four prominent Nantucket couples who count each other as best friends. As pillars of their close-knit community, the MacAvoys, Kapenashes, Drakes, and Wheelers are important to their friends and neighbors, and especially to each other. But just before the beginning of another idyllic summer, Greg and Tess are killed when their boat capsizes during an anniversary sail. As the warm weather approaches and the island mourns their loss, nothing can prepare the MacAvoy's closest friends for what will be revealed.

Once again, Hilderbrand masterfully weaves an intense tale of love and loyalty set against the backdrop of endless summer island life.

Author Bio:

Elin Hilderbrand lives on Nantucket with her husband and their three young children. She grew up in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, and traveled extensively before settling on Nantucket, which has been the setting for her five previous novels. Hilderbrand is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the graduate fiction workshop at the University of Iowa.

Make sure to visit the author's website for more information other books she has written:
http://elinhilderbrand.net/

If you're wanting another fun summer book to read, grab Elin's "A Summer Affair"...see my review for it here!

Here is a list of other bloggers doing reviews for "The Castaways" today!!

http://www.myspace.com/darbyscloset
http://kayespenguinposts.blogspot.com/
http://imbookingit.wordpress.com/
http://booksoulmates.blogspot.com/
http://www.morbid-romantic.net/
http://nisefunpages.blogspot.com/
http://tvandbookaddict.blogspot.com/
http://allisonsatticblog.blogspot.com/
http://wrightysreads.blogspot.com/
http://frugalplus.com/
http://www.mgpblog.com/

Thanks to Miriam for the book and blog tour!!

Book Review: "What Would Jane Austen Do?" by Laurie Brown

Book description:

She goes back in time to save a man's life...
Eleanor travels to England for a Jane Austen festival and is swept back in time to the glittering Regency era to help a pair of ghostly sisters prevent a deathly duel...

But she may have the wrong villain...
Lord Shermont, renowned rake and womanizer, has a Napoleonic spy to capture and a dastadly crime to untangle. The last thing he needs is a scandal too...

Thankfully, Jane Austen's sage advise prevents a fatal mistake...
With Jane Austen's guidance, Eleanor untangles the international intrigue going on before her eyes. But, which of the dueling gentlemen is the spy and which is the man of her dreams?


This book really surprised me in how much I ended up loving this story. I am not a big "Regency" period reader, but I do enjoy Jane Austen and thought I would give it a try. The story is full of ghosts, mystery, time travel and history, which keeps you involved with the characters until the very end! I won't give away some of the twists, but the character of Eleanor was refreshing to read. She was educated and had a passion that woman wish and hope we have in how we lead our lives. Eleanor is put in to a situation where she has to figure out what she needs to do to fix the past for the ghost/real sisters, but fate seems to guide her in a direction she may not be ready to accept. "Jane Austen" comes in to the story when Eleanor has a situation where she doesn't know what to do. So, she thinks about the books Austen wrote to draw on an answer! A variety of secondary characters are filled by the 'handsome' gentleman, the snooty older ladies, and family members that will have you laughing and intrigued by their lives.

Have you ever thought about if you were able to go back to a time period that you enjoy and had a life there...would you return back to your own time? The writing style of the story gives such vivid details of the Regency time period and customs that you feel like your living there with Eleanor. Just when I thought I had the ending figured out, it turned out better! I would tell anyone that enjoys a good book to take a look at this one. The book is like a looking glass to a time period through the eyes of someone who treasures the history of our world's past.

Rating: 4.5/5

Thank you to Danielle at Sourcebooks for the review copy!!

Book Review: Boneman's Daughters

Book description:

They call him BoneMan, a serial killer who's abducted six young women. He's the perfect father looking for the perfect daughter, and when his victims fail to meet his lofty expectations, he kills them by breaking their bones and leaving them to die.

Intelligence officer Ryan Evans, on the other hand, has lost all hope of ever being the perfect father. His daughter and wife have written him out of their lives.

Everything changes when BoneMan takes Ryan's estranged daughter, Bethany, as his seventh victim. Ryan goes after BoneMan on his own.

But the FBI sees it differently. New evidence points to the suspicion that Ryan is BoneMan. Now the hunter is the hunted, and in the end, only one father will stand.



I really had high hopes to reading "Boneman's Daughter," since I love psychological thrillers!! The excitement fizzled by the end of the book. The first half of the story moved really slow for me. It may have been the 'military' driven aspect of Ryan's kidnapping, but it didn't really keep my interest, but I forged on. When the police began to believe Ryan was the suspect of his daughters kidnapping, it got more interesting and you begin to wonder if he really is the Boneman. The ending was flat and anti-climatic with nothing more then good guy wins over bad buy. I was just glad to be done and able to go on to another book!!!

Rating: 2.75/5

Thank you to Miriam at Hachette books for this reviewers copy!

Book Review: An Offer You Can't Refuse

An Offer You Can't Refuse
By Jill Mansell

Book Description from the back of the book:

Young Lola, under duress, accepts a huge bribe to break up with her boyfriend. The worst part is, the bribe is from his mother. Ten years later, when they meet again, her feelings for him are as strong as ever---but how is she going to win him back without telling him why she broke his heart in the first place?


Need a book to put on your summer reading list? This light-hearted, British chick-lit should be near the top of your list. "An Offer You Can't Refuse" was a mixture of laugh-out-loud fun and pull out a hankie emotions that come together for a story that you will not want to stop until you get to the end.

Lola is an endearing character that you might not like at first, after she takes the bribe, but she slowly starts to grow on you. Ten years after the bribe, Lola is a bookstore manager and saves a woman from a mugging. Her life gets turned upside down when the woman is the one that gave her the bribe 10 yrs earlier!! She has to deal with her old emotions with Dougie and finding out a family secret.

The secondary characters of Gabe (neighbor) and Sally (Doug's sister and Gabe's roomate) have an 'opposites' attract relationship that is just hilarious to read. Of course, there is Dougie, the boyfriend that Lola dumped for the money. We really don't learn alot about him, but he is caught in the middle not knowing what truly happened and having a broken heart. When the truth comes out in the end, will they be able to start over again? Does love always endure? You will have to read it to find out!!!

I couldn't put this book down! I love that the author made Lola a manager of a bookstore. She gets to meet a number of 'interesting' customers that are oblivious to what they are looking for in the store, but expect her to know what they need! It's an easy to read book that will have you looking forward to another book written by Jill Mansell.

Rating: 3.5/5

Thank you to Sourcebooks and Danielle for this reviewers copy!

Great Giveaway at Melissa's Bookshelf!

Head over to Melissa's Bookshelf "HERE" who is having a 100th follower contest!! Wish I had that many!! Enter her contest for a $20.00 Amazon gift card...but hurry..it ends tonite!!!


Congrats Melissa!!!

Awards!!

One Lovely Blog Award

Melissa over at Melissa's Bookshelf gave me the One Lovely Blog Award this week. Thank you so much! Here's more info about what this award means...

This award which is given to new blogs and blogging friends.

The rules to follow are:

1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.

2) Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Well, I don't know that I'll be awarding "new" blogs here, but I will pass this on to 15 fabulous, lovely blogs that I've found recently:


At Home with Books
Shhh I'm Reading...
A Bookworm's World
As Usual, I Need More Bookshelves
Age 30+...A Lifetime of Books
The Sleepy Reader
The Movieholic & Bibliophile's Blog
A Sea Of Books
Unmainstream Mom Reads
Cafe of Dreams
Drey's Library
A Circle of Books
Jenn's Bookshelf
Sophisticated Dorkiness
Julie's Jewels

Click on over to their blogs and enjoy!!!

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Book Review: Defending Angels

Author Mary Stanton has created an amazing new paranormal/cozy mystery series called “A Beaufort & Company Mystery.” “Defending Angels” is the first book of the series that mixes cozy, mystery and paranormal, which will pull you in to the story from the first chapter and won’t let you go until the last page is read.

Lawyer Brianna Winston-Beaufort comes to Savannah to take over her late uncle’s practice. After finding an office to rent at a low price in a cemetery, she slowly begins to realize her practice isn’t going to be normal. Brianna gets her first phone call from a prospective client, but soon realizes he died ‘before’ she got his call! Strange things begin to happen to her as she begins her investigation in to the ‘murder’ of her client. Brianna’s family history is different then what she thought it was. Organizations, angels, demons and a freaky painting all come in to play for Brianna as she works to solve the murder of the ‘dead’ client.

“Defending Angels” was a truly charming book that had me hooked from the beginning. Mary Stanton’s writing and unique characters are what kept my attention throughout this book. I was initially worried about the ‘southern’ locale which I was afraid I wouldn’t like, but it really gave the story the historical background that was the backbone to the book. With so many ‘cozy mystery’ being published, this one really seemed to have all the pieces of a book that can stand up among the best. I will be looking forward to the next book in the series!!

Thank you to RebeccaReads for this review copy!!

Rating: 4/5