Maw Books » Giveaways

The Threadbare Heart by Jennie Nash

Natasha Maw — Sun, 02 May 2010 11:03:33 +0000

I was a HUGE fan of The Only True Genius in the Family and so had huge expectations for Jennie Nash’s new novel The Threadbare Heart. Oh my goodness. This woman has incredible talent. I LOVED this book. The Threadbare Heart is a story of family: of mothers, daughters, sons, wives, and husbands. It is a story of friends. It is a story of love, marriage, commitment, uncertainty, grief, sorrow and healing.

I must share with you the opening paragraphs* of the book which drew me in completely:

Love was the one thing Lily always thought she did better than her mother. She believed that she knew exactly what love took, what it cost, and what it meant, and she though of her long marriage to Tom as proof of it. But in the short period of time between Christmas and the start of fire season, everything she understood about love unraveled, the way jeans do at the hem, the way tweed does so that it reveals the intricate relationship of the warp and the weft, and she realized how very little she knew about the way love worked. People naturally assumed, after everything that happened, that it was a bitter revelation, but they were wrong.

“Would you do it all again, knowing what you know now?” her mother Eleanor, asked. Eleanor was, at that moment, seventy-five years old, about to be married again herself, and hoping that this time she might get it right.

“In a heartbeat,” Lily said – not only because she believed it, but because she knew it was what her mother needed to hear.

I’m not going to share too much of the plot with you today. Suffice to say that I think the back cover synopsis spoils the book completely. Thank goodness I NEVER read back cover synopsis until after the fact. Something happened in the book which I’m glad I didn’t know was going to happen because it made it just that much more powerful. So if you see this one in the store, don’t pick it up to read what it says on the back. Just go to the cash register and take it home with you.

Suffice it to say that this is a story of Lily and her longstanding marriage to Tom. It’s a story of Lily’s mother who is about to be married for the fourth time. It’s a story of Lily’s two sons, one who is wondering himself if he’d be one to take after his mother or his grandmother. I know that that description is about the most basic I could give but it’s a story with such incredible depth. Jennie Nash writes with such beauty. The emotions that she’s able to bring out in her characters is one that will have you crying right alongside them.

A gorgeous novel.

I am THRILLED to offer you an opportunity to win a signed copy of The Threadbare Heart and ten signed copies, a call-in from Jennie Nash, and a rum cake to one lucky grand prize winner (chosen from all participating blogs in this awesome promotion). There is a PDF document embedded here. If you can not view it, than click here.

It’s simple. Leave me a comment and in just 250 words explain your favorite fictional mother-daughter pair. I will post the entry I like best on my blog the day after Mother’s Day (other blogs will post theirs Mother’s Day but I will be offline and unable to do so). Then Jennie Nash will pick the grand prize entry from those.

Seriously folks, you NEED this book. I loved it so much.

*quoted from an uncorrected proof
Links of interest: Jennie Nash website, blog, and follow on Twitter. Maw Books reviews of The Only True Genius in the Family, The Last Beach Bungalow book review, Jennie Nash guest post and my interview with Jennie talking about The Last True Genius in the Family. More book blogger reviews.
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Berkley Trade. May 4, 2010
Paperback, 336 pages. ISBN 042523410X
Source: Review copy
The Threadbare Heart by Jennie Nash is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

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Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

Bloggiesta: Let’s Give Away Books!

Natasha Maw — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 06:38:25 +0000

What can I say? Pedro was tired and taking a siesta! And now has a really sore throat. So please forgive me that I kept saying I’d post this a certain day and then keep pushing it back. But we have books to give out!

Thank you so much for making the 2nd Edition of the Bloggiesta a huge success! We had about 130 people participate and from all the posts that I read and the chatter on Twitter, everybody had a FANTASTIC time! Honestly, I didn’t even see any constructive criticism, and as a host that has me feeling happy (which by the way, I have read everybody’s wrap-ups posts but still have about half of those to comment on). Not only did we make new friends, help each other out, but we learned a thing or two about blogging and came out of it with a better looking blog. What a great way to start out the new year!

Give a hearty thank you to our fantastic sponsors who generously donated books for Bloggiesta participants. While it’s always fun to have blogging parties, it’s always more fun when there are books involved! Thank you:

Scholastic (@scholastic on Twitter)
Hachette Book Group (follow Hachette’s Twitter accounts)
Peachtree Publishers (@PeachtreePubs on Twitter)
Lisa Roe, Publicist (@OnlinePublicist on Twitter)
Bloomsbury Publishing (@bloomsburyusa on Twitter)

Earlier, we wacked the pinata and three bloggers fought the crowd and came away with these books in their hands:

We also had a quick Twitter giveaway and April from Good Books and Wine chose to win a copy of ROSES by Leila Meacham.

So how about some more winners?!

I chose one winner from each of the mini-challenges:

And then I combined the flashback mini-challenges and chose 1 winner for every 2 challenges (trust me – it makes sense in my head):

And then I chose twenty random participants:

And then I wanted to give out a few prizes to those who noticeably put in huge hours.

Sheila at One Persons Journey Through A World of Books is the queen of commenting and left over 200+ comments!
Congrats to Kate from The Neverending Shelf for clocking in at 43 hours spent on the Bloggiesta!
But of course, we have a runner up and that’s Katie at Read What You Know who spent 39 hours.

Seriously, these gals are die-hards! At those numbers, you definitely deserve a prize!

Congratulations everybody! All winners were chosen using random.org and my fancy counting skills. If somebody had previously won (I swear some people’s names came up like four times – those lucky ducks) then I chose again.

Now, you are probably going to ask yourselves, - how in the world is this going to work?! That’s a total of 44 winners!

Well, first off, I am NOT going to be tracking down your email addresses to let you know you’ve won. Hopefully, when you participated in Bloggiesta, you subscribed to my blog, thus you are seeing this post. Each of you will contact me and give me a mailing address as well as your top five book choices in order. I can not guarantee that you will get your top choices but dang it, I will try! You have one week to contact me with your mailing address and book choices. The publishers are mailing all the prizes and I will be handing off your info on Monday, January 24th.

Kathrin and Mee – as you are out of the country, please send me an email address and I’ll send you a gift certificate to the online bookstore of your choice. I think everybody else is either US or Canada, unless I missed you. Callista and Sandra – please choose a book that can be mailed to Canada.

ALL THE BOOK DETAILS can be found on the starting line post (including where they mail too). I will attempt to cross off items here as they get claimed.

Again, a very special thank you to Scholastic (@scholastic on Twitter), Hachette Book Group (follow Hachette’s Twitter accounts), Peachtree Publishers (@PeachtreePubs on Twitter), Lisa Roe, Publicist (@OnlinePublicist on Twitter), and Bloomsbury Publishing (@bloomsburyusa on Twitter) for sponsoring the Bloggiesta.

Congrats everybody! I wish everybody could have won! And please, I hope I didn’t confuse anybody!

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Bloggiesta Day 2 – It’s Pinata Time

Natasha Maw — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:34:17 +0000

It’s Day 2 of Bloggiesta (you can still join – check in at the starting line)! I have been having a fantastic time reading everybody’s posts, checking in on Twitter and been pleased with everybody’s enthusiasm.

It’s not a Bloggiesta with a pinata! And it’s not a pinata without candy – but in this case we’re replacing candy with virtual books! Come take a whack and you may win a book of your choice (or gift certificate for international players) from our awesome sponsors. How do you take a virtual whack on the virtual pinata? Just leave me a comment telling me what your favorite part of Bloggiesta is so far or something that you’ve gotten accomplished. I’ll announce the winner in tomorrow’s post.

Good luck!

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Book Giveaway Winners – 14 Cows for America, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The Year The Swallows Came Early and The Graveyard Book

Natasha Maw — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:15:00 +0000

Wow, what a month of giveaways! Normally, I announce giveaway winners on the respective thread of the book so as to avoid writing blog posts when I don’t need to but I thought announcing this many winners warranted a separate post.

First, many thanks to everybody who entered and your enthusiasm in answering the questions that I put forth to enter. Such fun to read. These are great books and I’m thrilled to share them with you.

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For The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows giveaway I enjoyed finding out if you had a book club or not and if so, what the name of it was. Congratulations to these five lucky winners who will receive a copy of the book from the publisher Dial Press.

Melissa at The Betty and Boo Chronicles
Janssen at Everyday Reading
Melissa at One Librarian’s Book Reviews
Haley
couchpotato

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I also enjoyed the quotes that you shared on Kathryn Fitzmaurice’s guest post about inspiration quotes. The winner of a signed copy provided by Kathryn is The Year the Swallows Came Early is . . .

Carol M.!

She shared the quote: “All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.” Charles M. Schulz

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I’m excited to be participating in this giveaway for 14 Cows for America by Carmen Agra Deedy sponsored by Peachtree Publishing. It’s a beautiful book and I think everybody should read it. The lucky winner is. . .

Hannah at Word Lily!

Congrats.

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My signed copy of the The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman was my post popular giveaway this month with more than 200 people tallying more than 1370 entries. I LOVED reading the answers to the question: If you lived in a graveyard who would you want to make sure was buried there? I was oddly surprised that the majority said their grandfather.

Many of you wanted this signed book BADLY but there can only be one winner and it is . . .

Nicole at Books and Bards!

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Congratulations to all the winners! This summer has been crazy and I have a huge stack of books from last month to still mail out. Winners send me your mailing addresses. Thanks all!

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Giveaway: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (pssst . . . it’s SIGNED!)

Natasha Maw — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:31:20 +0000

Edited to add: This giveaway is now closed and you may find the winner on the announcement post. Miss this giveaway? Find out if I have any other current giveaways.

I’m thrilled to give away a signed copy of The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (check out my book review), 2009’s Newbery Award winner and all around massively popular book by a massively popular author. I was able to pick up a copy of the book while at BEA a few weeks ago and rather then keep it for myself, I know many of you who would be thrilled to have it! So, it’s all yours!

Publisher description:

Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy.

He would be completely normal if he didn’t live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead.

There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy-an ancient Indigo Man beneath the hill, a gateway to a desert leading to an abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible menace of the Sleer.

But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod’s family. . . .

Book trailer:

Giveaway Details:

This giveaway will be open for two weeks and is open internationally. I will close the contest at the end of the day, Thursday July 23rd and announce the winners within the week. Edited to add: Due to some offline time that I didn’t anticipate I am extending this giveaway until July 31st.
To enter, leave a comment on this post answering this question: If you lived in a graveyard, which dead person would you want to make sure was buried there, so you could hang out together and why? No answer, no entry.
Five additional entries for each of the following: If you are not already subscribed and you sign up for updates either through RSS or by email, Twitter this giveaway, Stumble or fav this post, post about the giveaway either in forums (leave a link) or on your blog.
Ten additional entries if you are already subscribed. My way of saying thanks if you’ve already been sticking around.

Links of interest: Maw Books review of The Graveyard Book. Neil Gaiman website, blog and on Twitter.
The Graveyard Book is available from your local independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

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Freckleface Strawberry and the Dodgeball Bully by Julianne Moore, Illustrated by LeUyen Pham (And a GIVEAWAY!)

Natasha Maw — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:52:03 +0000

Freckleface Strawberry and the Dodgeball Bully by Julianne Moore and illlustrated by LeUyen Pham is a cute little book. I haven’t read the other book in the series Freckleface Strawberry but I think it’s worth seeking out after reading The Dodgeball Bully.

On days that her family leaves to work early, Freckleface Strawberry (the same nickname that Julianne was given when she was a child – see video below to hear Julianne talk about this) gets to go to “Early Bird” at school. A program that lets the kids play before school starts. She loves Early Bird because she gets extra play instead of extra breakfast. She loves to play four square, jump rope, tetherball, and imaginary monsters. But he hates the days that it rains. Because rainy days means playing dodgeball in the gym!

I really got a kick out of Freckleface Strawberry’s fear of playing dodgeball. Both my husband and I hated dodgeball when we were in elementary school. Needless to say, it’s the big kids who love it and the little kids who hate it. Both of us were small. About two months ago, my friend told us to get a babysitter and join their friends in a game of dodgeball for a Friday night out. “Are you kidding me?!” I had said. “Paying a babysitter to go play dodgeball does NOT sound like a fun night out.” Needless to say, we passed. I’ve had enough dodgeball to last me a lifetime. It’s one of those games that I kind of wish would die out, so I don’t have to let my kids play it at school. I mean, come on, pegging kids as hard as you can with a flying ball? No thank you.

What makes dodgeball worse for Freckleface Strawberry is Windy Pants Patrick. You know his type. He’s three times the size of everybody else and he gets a kick out of throwing the ball as hard as he can and making kids cry. She had a plan, she’d stick to the back. Her plan worked until she found herself the last one in, which gave Patrick a perfect shot at her. She knew it was “going to hurt, hurt, HURT!” She decides to pretend to be a monster and then discovers that it didn’t really hurt after all (really?!) and roared like a monster to Patrick. When Patrick gets scared, she apoligies and the next day finds both Freckleface Strawberry and Windy Pants Patrick playing together on the monkey bars.

I must admit that the ending of the book was a bit unbelievable to me as I really didn’t think that the bully of the story and the victim would become best friends. I think maybe they could tolerate each other, but playing together? Hmm . . . I’ll be forgiving. I do like the idea of the book as a means for children who are being bullied to address and work through their problems. I

I loved the illustrations by LeUyen Pham, especially Freckleface Strawberries character. She’s just so darn cute! The illustrations give a wonderful, retro feel to the book and really enhances the text. Very memorable.

On the nickname, Freckleface Strawberry:

On reading:

I met Julianne Moore at BookExpo America (BEA)! She was really sweet and signed a copy of the book for me.

That means that I now have an extra. In a moment of selfishness, I’m keeping my signed copy but would like to give you my other one. To enter, leave a comment telling me about your dodgeball experiences. Have you played before? Do you like the game? Do you hate it? Was there a kid who ruled the game? Comments that do not answer this question, will not be eligible. Open internationally, I’ll close the contest in a week on June 16th.

Links of interest: Thank you to Promo 101 for putting together Julianne’s blog tour. For complete tour information and the complete schedule, visit her tour home page. More videos of Julianne Moore and Freckleface Strawberry: on balancing family and career, on writing, on being a redhead with freckles, on writing for children, on being a writer.
Genre: Picture book, approx ages 4-8.
Published by Bloomsbury. April 28, 2009.
Hardcover, 40 pages. ISBN: 1599903164
Freckleface Strawberry and the Dodgeball Bully is now available from your local independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon. Order your copy today.

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The iwasiwasinnewyorkatbeawithnatasha Giveaway!

Natasha Maw — Sat, 30 May 2009 00:00:11 +0000

Oh how I wish I could magically transport every single one of you to New York City to attend BookExpo America! I’m having a blast (well, I’ve prescheduled this post but as of Thursday afternoon I was having a blast and hadn’t left yet, so I imagine it only got better!) and at the moment should be at the BEAtweetup party at the Greenhouse. If you really want to know my every move (not as scary as it sounds) then be sure to watch my Twitter profile or subscribe to my twitter update feed in your favorite reader. I’m just figuring out how to tweet via texting on my phone so we shall see how it goes.

So while I’m partying (well given the fact that I don’t drink and I saw this article, I’m a bit nervous) at the BEAtweetup, I hope the rest of you are partying at the BEAtwittyparty hosted by Rebecca at The Book Lady’s Blog!

I want to do a giveaway just for you! I have a copy of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon and The Bright Side of Disaster by Katherine Center for two lucky winners! In addition, I will have a third winner who gets a mysterious something from what I bring back from BEA. I’d tell you what it is, but I haven’t the foggiest idea either. It will be good. I promise!

Giveaway open for everybody and I’ll pick a winner after I come home and recover. You can continue to enter after the BEAtwittyparty is over because I’ll still be partying myself! To enter, you must answer this question: if you could go to a party with any three authors, dead or alive, who would they be and why?

Looking forward to your answers and don’t forget that I’m also giving away a SIGNED copy of The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Willliams!

Hope you are having a great time at the BEAtwittyparty!

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The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams: A Review, a Reading, and a Signed ARC Giveaway!

Natasha Maw — Fri, 29 May 2009 11:00:05 +0000

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams is a book that I have been wanting to get my greedy hands on as soon as I saw the first review for it. Why? Well, I’ll tell you why.

One. It’s YA. I love YA. Need I say more?

Two. It’s about polygamy. Hello? Me? I seem to love to pick up all the books about polygamy. For some odd strange reason, I love them all.

Three. Carol Lynch Williams lives right here in Salt Lake City. I love to read my local authors. Why am I SO lucky to live in the same valley as Shannon Hale, Sara Zarr, Brandon Mull, James Dashner, Brandon Sanderson, Ann Dee Ellis, Emily Wing Smith, A.E. Cannon, J. Scott Savage, Richard Paul Evans and – wait, I could go on forever, I’ve got to stop with the names somewhere. I told you, I’m very lucky.

Four. That cover. Just look at that cover.

Five. The buzz. The hype. Oh my goodness, it’s getting a lot of it. I’m one of those people that if the book sounds like its one I’d enjoy anyways then the hype really does get to me. I want to read it more!

As soon as The Chosen One arrived I had the boys down for their naps within the hour and settled myself on the couch. When my husband came from work and I squealed that I finally got the book, he asked when I would be reading it. But by then I was already done! I read it in just one sitting. And I’m pleased to say that The Chosen One lived up to all of the hype. I had high expectations for the book and I was not disappointed.

The Chosen One will make you sad, it will make you furious, if you are a crier you will cry, and if you are easily angered it will also make you want to bash somebody’s head in. Even with all of that, read this book!

It is simply beautiful and courageous. And it is a book that you will not soon forget. It stays with you long after you have closed the last page.

But let’s begin with the first page, shall we? The first line,

“If I was going to kill the prophet,” I say, not even keeping my voice low, “I’d do it in Africa.”

What a fantastic first line. That first line says so much about the book. What prophet? If there is a prophet, there must be some type of community, followers, or group. And why does she want to kill him? Who is he? What has he done to her to warrant such an expression? And Africa? Well, that just sounds exotic. Especially, looking back on it because we later discover that Kyra has never even really left her small, closed community. Africa might as well be shooting for the moon.

Simply stated The Chosen One is about thirteen year old Kyra who has grown up in a isolated and closed polygamous community. Her loving father whom she adores has three wives and she has twenty brothers and sisters, not including the two that are on the way.

Kyra is relatively happy, believes in her faith but is not without her curiosities. One of her biggest kept secrets is the Ironton County Mobile Library on Wheels that makes a stop especially for her just down the road. Hidden up in a tree she escapes into the world of The Bridge of Terabithia and Harry Potter. The prophet made them burn all their books years earlier, stating that books like Dr. Suess’s Hop on Pop and Fox in Socks are the devils words and would get them sent straight to hell.

Her other secret is Joshua, also in the community, whom she secretly meets during the night. They aren’t supposed to be friends. They have no right to choose each other. Never are they to have relationships before marriage and when that time comes only the prophet himself can choose whom they will marry. But being with him makes her feel so good. How can it be so bad?

Kyra is holding these secrets when the Prophet announces that she has been chosen to marry. At the age of thirteen she is expected to marry her SIXTY-THREE year old UNCLE! Her parents don’t like it either but have no power to change it and go forth with making the wedding plans. As the wedding day looms closer and Joshua runs away, Kyra is stuck. Does she abandon the family that she loves and the only way of life that she knows or does she submit to her families and the prophets will and live a life of ugliness, violence, and greed?

I’ve read a fair amount of books about polygamy and it never ceases to amaze me what goes on in these closed communities. On the surface, it appears to be about the true happiness of families and their unwavering faith in their God. But underneath it’s dark and ugly. The violence against women and their expectations to “keep sweet” is infuriating.

The Chosen One is simply riveting. The more I think about it, the more I like it. You won’t be able to put it down.

I was able to meet Carol Lynch Williams and hear her do a reading at the Provo Children’s Book Festival a couple of weeks ago (my post about LAST years festival) The following video is one of the most gut wrenching passages in the book and it was a pleasure to hear Carol read it. I apologize for some of the cuts, my camera only videos for three minutes at a time which didn’t make it fun when it cut at the important parts.

Carol was very gracious and I was excited to be able to meet her. Even my little boy got into the action.

Don’t we look so nice and snuggly?!

Giveaway! Carol signed an ARC just for you! Surely, after my review your dying to get your hands on the book aren’t you? And a signed one at that?!

If you’d like to enter to win a signed copy of The Chosen One you will receive one entry by answering this question (no answer, no entry): do you think that polygamy should be legal? Why or why not? If you think hard about it, it’s not as easy as an answer as you might think.

An additional entry each if you subscribe either by RSS or email to this blog, tweet this giveaway post, post about the giveaway on your blog, or stumble this post. Five additional entries if you are already subscribed to my blog. My way of saying thank you. Open worldwide and I’ll close the giveaway on Monday, June 1st.

Links of interest: Cynsations interview with Carol and Becky’s interview with Carol.
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, polygamy.
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin. May 12, 2009.
Hardcover, 224 pages. ISBN 0312555113
The Chosen One is available from your local independent bookstore, Powell’s, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.

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The Secret Keeper by Paul Harris

Natasha Maw — Mon, 18 May 2009 11:00:49 +0000

The Secret Keeper by Paul Harris is a different type of reading for me than what I am normally used to. While it takes place in Africa (and I’m all over books sets in Africa), it’s more of a mystery thriller, a genre that I usually avoid. I’m not really sure why, I don’t think I’ve ever had any bad experiences with the genre, in fact I don’t think it’s a genre that I’ve even really tried. Maybe to many different interests elsewhere? My first foray into the genre has me wondering if I should try a couple more books to see if it’s something that I should explore more.

In The Secret Keeper, Danny Kellerman, a British journalist, four years earlier landed the story of his lifetime when sent to Sierra Leone as a war correspondent to cover the political upheaval and civil war taking place there. Being on the front lines had always been his dream job, but what he didn’t expect was to fall in love with Maria, an American woman who ran a orphanage for ex-child soldiers. They have a brief but passionate relationship and when the crisis elevates he has no choice but to board a plane and go back home leaving Maria behind.

Four years later, Danny is living back in London with his girlfriend and is at odds with his father. Danny receives a letter from Maria which pleads for him to return to Sierra Leone because she’s in trouble and needs his help. But the letter didn’t arrive in time, and Danny learns that Maria was murdered just days earlier in a roadside robbery. Danny can’t shake the feeling that there isn’t something right and that there had to be more motive surrounding her death than just a “roadside robbery.”

Against his family and his girlfriend’s wishes, he returns to Sierra Leone to find answers. While there is a new type of peace in Sierra Leone, it’s not the same country that he left. Former rebel leaders now hold high offices in government and secrecy and corruption seem rampant. And asking to many questions about Maria gets Danny further into trouble and he soons finds himself in dangerous and life threatening situations. As he uncovers more of the mystery surrounding Maria’s death, he finds that she might not be the woman that he thought she was.

What I liked about this book was knowing that the author Paul Harris is a journalist turned novelist and that he spent time as a war correspondent in Africa covering the conflict in Sierra Leone. I found that completely fascinating and wondered how much of his experience was pulled into the novel. Thank goodness, I was able to ask Paul directly and you’ll be able to see some of his thoughts in my author interview which I’ll feature tomorrow. I will be the first to admit that I’m really ignorant on the political climate of Sierra Leone and I appreciate being introduced to new places and new people through fiction.

The Secret Keeper was fast paced with lots of twists and turns that had me unable to guess how the book would end. I liked the multiple story lines, one told in 2004 as Danny researches Maria’s death and the second in 2000 with Danny’s first trip to Sierra Leone and his falling in love with her. I enjoyed seeing how the two stories came together and revealed their relationship together as he was uncovering her death.

What I didn’t like about the book? Long time readers of my blog can probably guess that I am not a fan of lots of foul language. I can stand some language but when I feel like I’m getting bogged down with it than I get very distracted. At one point, I almost wish I had kept track of the number of times the “F-word” was used. When the characters get into a rollicking conversation, it could be as many as 5-6 a page. Of course, it’s not every page, but it’s just enough to make me a little hesitant to recommend it to those who like cleaner reads. On a good note, the sex scenes were very tastefully done. The “leave it to my imagination” kind.

I don’t think The Secret Keeper will make my top ten reads of the year, but overall, I liked it. It had a great storyline, believable characters, and set against a volatile background of war, greed, murder, and deceit, it makes for an intriguing read. I can also see it as a great movie. Plus, you know me and my Africa war books. I’m always up for anything that covers those type of issues. Just beware the language.

The Secret Keeper will be on tour the rest of May and into June with TLC Book Tours, so do check out what other bloggers are saying. As for me, I’m really curious to see what everybody else thinks. But that’s not all folks! Come back tomorrow for an interview with Paul Harris. I have to admit that this was one of my most intimidating interviews I’ve ever conducted. What do you ask a man who has risked his life covering war stories in Africa? You’ll find out. And as if that’s not enough, I got my hands on a second copy of The Secret Keeper, so I’ll be doing a giveaway tomorrow as well!

Do you have any other recommendations for books set in Sierra Leone? This is a topic that I’d love to read more about.

Links of interest: The Secret Keeper website. Blog stops with TLC Book Tours.
Genre: Mystery/thriller.
Publisher: Dutton Adult. April 2nd, 2009
Hardcover, 336 pages. ISBN: 0525951024
The Secret Keeper is available from your independent bookstore, Powell’s, Barnes and Noble and Amazon.
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GIVEAWAY: Newbery Honor Book, Savvy by Ingrid Law

Natasha Maw — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:00:11 +0000

Yesterday, I was thrilled to interview Ingrid Law who just received a 2009 Newbery Honor for her debut novel Savvy. Savvy is such a fun, whimsical book with a lot of heart and I really enjoyed it. I’m thrilled to pass on another copy of Savvy to one of my blog readers (I’m just super sad that I wasn’t able to have it signed when I was at the LA Times Festival of Books.) If you haven’t read Savvy yet then you definitely want to enter for this one. Or if you have a young reader in your home or know a young reader, this would be the perfect book for them!

To enter, simply share with me your savvy. What’s a savvy you say? Why I’m glad you asked! In the Beaumont family, at the age of 13, each child receives their own savvy. Think supernatural ability. No one knows what savvy is going to appear on their special day and their new talent must be tamed. Mibb’s mother can do everything perfectly, even if she makes a mistake, it’s a perfect mistake. Her grandfather can create land and her late grandmother was able to catch radio waves and put them in jars. Rocket, age seventeen, can create electricity, and Fish, age fourteen, can control water. In fact when he turned thirteen he wasn’t able to control his savvy and the whole family had to movie after he created a hurricane.

But what’s so wonderful about savvies, is that we each already have our own. A deep, special hidden talent that is just waiting to be discovered and nurtured. And I think that’s partly what makes this book so special, it explores finding our own special savvies.

In my interview with Ingrid Law, she said that her savvy would be to breathe underwater and to fly. In other interviews she’s mentioned that her natural savvy is that she smiles a lot, her silly savvy is that she’s clumsy and spills things all the time.

My dream savvy? That’s a hard question. I would love to snap my fingers and have the house clean itself and the food cook itself. That way I could have time to do other things. A savvy I already have? Hmm . . . I’d like to think that I have an eye for detail. Nothing escapes my attention.

If you’d like a copy of Savvy for yourself or as a gift for a friend, share with me what your dream savvy would be. If you could have any supernatural ability, what would it be? AND what’s a savvy that you think you already have? To qualify, you must answer BOTH of these questions. Think of it as me getting to know you better! Open internationally and will close Wednesday, May 6th.

Ingrid Law’s website and blog. My interview with Ingrid Law and book review. Many thanks to Kidz Book Buzz for coordinating Ingrid’s blog tour! Check out what other bloggers are saying about Savvy: A Christian Worldview of Fiction, All About Children’s Books, Becky’s Book Reviews, Booking Mama, Cafe of Dreams, Dolce Bellezza, Fireside Musings, Hyperbole, KidzBookBuzz.com, Looking Glass Reviews, Never Jam Today, Olive Tree, Our Big Earth, The 160 Acrewoods, Through a Child’s Eyes.

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