Monday, March 30, 2015

The Rosie Project - First Chapter / First Paragraph and Teaser Tuesday

16181775
I've been removing books from my Kindle that I probably won't reread and leaving those that I enjoyed enough to read again. The Rosie Project gets to stay. It's a fascinating look inside the mind of a man who has Asperger syndrome (an autism spectrum disorder), told with humor, warmth, and great insight as he searches for a wife. If you like Sheldon Cooper from "The Big Bang Theory" (but with more heart), you'll like Don Tillman from The Rosie Project even more.

First Paragraphs:
I may have found a solution to the Wife Problem. As with so many scientific breakthroughs, the answer was obvious in retrospect. But had it not been for a series of unscheduled events, it is unlikely I would have discovered it.
      The sequence was initiated by Gene's insisting I give a lecture on Asperger's syndrome that he had previously agreed to deliver himself. The timing was extremely annoying. The preparation could be time-shared with lunch consumption, but on the designated evening I had scheduled ninety-four minutes to clean my bathroom. I was faced with a choice of three options, none of them satisfactory.

Teaser Tuesday excerpt (at 6% on my Kindle) - (Don decides how to screen women who he might possibly want for a wife.)
A questionnaire! Such an obvious solution. A purpose-built, scientifically valid instrument incorporating current best practice to filter out the time wasters, the disorganized, the ice-cream discriminators, the visual-harrassment complainers, the crystal gazers, the horoscope readers, the fashion obsessives, the religious fanatics, the vegans, the sports watchers, the creationists, the smokers, the scientifically illiterate, the homeopaths, leaving, ideally, the perfect partner or, realistically, a manageable short list of candidates.

Genre: Humor & Satire
Book Length: 305 Pages
Amazon Link: The Rosie Project
Sequel: The Rosie Effect

Synopsis:
      An international sensation, this hilarious, feel-good novel is narrated by an oddly charming and socially challenged genetics professor on an unusual quest: to find out if he is capable of true love.
      Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.
      Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent—and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don's Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper.
      The Rosie Project is a moving and hilarious novel for anyone who has ever tenaciously gone after life or love in the face of overwhelming challenges.


Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please!
Link at ADailyRhythm.com






First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile By The Sea. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.
Link at BibliophileByTheSea



Friday, March 27, 2015

Columbia Winery - Saturday Snapshots

On a cool, drizzly March day my husband and I drove to Woodinville, WA, to visit the Columbia Winery. We've been there many times - we have a wine club membership and receive "releases" every three months - but on this Wednesday afternoon the place was almost deserted. Although we enjoyed our visit, the grounds are much prettier in summertime when everything's in bloom and the sun is shining. (Click on photos to enlarge.)



A grapevine as art. The sign is enlarged below.

The tasting room was empty!
No one stood on the porches or lounged at the tables, 
sipping wine.
I'm looking forward to returning to the Columbia Winery in three months to pick up the next batch of wine releases. We'll try to choose a sunny day when flowers fill the beds. Until then, I guess we'll have to make our own sunshine and drink the wine we just picked up!




Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.
To enjoy a variety of beautiful pictures from around the world, 
click HERE or on the box below. 

West Metro Mommy Reads
To participate in Saturday Snapshots: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) 
have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on the host blogsite. 
Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate 
for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. 
Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Gracianna - The Friday 56 and Book Beginnings on Friday

17355195

I have barely started reading Gracianna by Trini Amador, but I think I'm going to enjoy this story. It takes place in Paris in the early 1940s as the Germans are occupying France. 

Book Beginning (Prologue):
     Odds are I was the only four-year-old to have ever freely fumbled a loaded German Luger.
     I was barely able to lift it. How could I know it was a real gun?

The Friday 56 (from 56% on my Kindle). I haven't reached this point in the story.
He could never tell Gracianna how badly she had been beaten.Just like that, Constance was going to be "s'en va [going away]," the term used for the many who were sent to the camps.

Genre: Family Saga / Historical Fiction 
   Length: 301 Pages
   Amazon Link: Gracianna

Synopsis from Goodreads:
     The gripping story of Gracianna--a French-Basque girl forced to make impossible decisions after being recruited into the French Resistance in Nazi-occupied Paris.
     Gracianna is inspired by true events in the life of Trini Amador's great-grandmother, Gracianna Lasaga. As an adult, Amador was haunted by the vivid memory of finding a loaded German Luger tucked away in a nightstand while wandering his great-grandmother's home in Southern California. He was only four years old at the time, but the memory remained and he knew he had to explore the story behind the gun.
     Decades later, Amador would delve into the remarkable odyssey of his Gracianna's past, a road that led him to an incredible surprise. In Gracianna, Amador weaves fact and fiction to tell his great-grandmother's story.
     Gracianna bravely sets off to Paris in the early 1940s--on her way to America, she hopes--but is soon swept into the escalation of the war and the Nazi occupation of Paris. After chilling life-and-death struggles, she discovers that her missing sister has surfaced as a laborer in Auschwitz. When she finds an opportunity to fight back against the Nazis to try to free her sister, she takes it--even if it means using lethal force.
     As Amador tells the imagined story of how his great-grandmother risked it all, he delivers richly drawn characters and a heart-wrenching page-turner that readers won't soon forget.
 

                 

Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56.
Click HERE to connect to other Book Beginnings posts (sponsored by Rose City Reads) 
Click HERE to join other Friday 56 bloggers (sponsored by Freda's Voice)

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

We Have a Winner!

20588446

Congratulations, Suzie Quint! You're the winner of an ebook copy of Devious by Mark Love.

Thanks to everyone who entered. For those of you who didn't win, Devious and the other two books in the Jamie Richmond mystery series are available in ebook and paperback formats from:

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
All Romance eBooks (ebook only)
Smashwords (ebook only)

Monday, March 23, 2015

Devious - Teaser Tuesday and First Paragraph /First Chapter

20588446
     Who's really behind the shooting of Officer Kleinschmidt? Author Jamie Richmond, riding along in the patrol car as an observer when "Smitty" is shot, is determined to find out. 
     If you like mysteries with strong female characters, humor and romance, then you'll enjoy Devious by Mark Love as much as I did.
* * *
What's your favorite romantic movie made after 1980?
Answer that question in your comment for a chance to
win an ebook copy of DEVIOUS (and be sure to include your email address so we can contact you.)

First Paragraph (Prologue):
I can't believe I'm standing here with a gun in my hand. And it's pointed at his chest. My heart's pounding in such a pronounced manner you would think I just ran five miles. But there's anger mixed with the adrenalin coursing through my system.

Teaser (from 20% on my Kindle) (I love this description!)
As I parked beside the gate, the meanest dog I've ever seen greeted me. It was one part Doberman, one part German shepherd, ten parts ugly. In case the dog was as smart as he was ugly, I locked my door and stayed inside. 

Genre:  Mystery / Romantic Suspense
Book Length: 211 Pages
Amazon Link:  Devious (Book 1 of the 3-book Jamie Richmond Mysteries)
More About The Author: Mark Love's Amazon Author Page

Synopsis (from Goodreads):
Jamie Richmond, reporter turned author, is doing research for her next book. Attempting to capture the realism of a police officer’s duties while on patrol, she manages to tag along for a shift with a state police trooper. A few traffic stops and a high speed chase later, Jamie’s ride takes an unexpected turn when she witnesses the trooper being shot. Although it is not a fatal injury, Jamie becomes obsessed with unraveling the facts behind this violent act. While she is trying to sort out this puzzle, she becomes romantically involved with Malone, another trooper with a few mysteries of his own. Now Jamie’s attention is divided between a blooming romance and solving the crime which is haunting her. Jamie begins to question the events that took place and exactly who could be behind the shooting. It was a devious mind. But who?

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please!
Link at ADailyRhythm.com





First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile By The Sea. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.
Link at BibliophileByTheSea

Friday, March 20, 2015

Saturday Snapshots - The Sound of Music and Salzburg

Diane Sawyer's recent TV special "The Untold Story of the Sound of Music" reminded me of the Sound of Music tour my daughter-in-law and I took when we visited Salzburg. Yes, it was schmaltzy (our husbands declined to participate), but what a great time we had! So I searched through my photos from 2007 and pasted some of them below.
It's hard for me to believe that movie was made FIFTY years ago!


Leopoldskron Castle was used for exterior shots of the VonTrapp's home
In one scene the children fell into Leopoldskron Lake while canoeing.


Here's the "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" gazebo


Mondsee Cathedral where Maria and Captain VonTrapp married

The Salzburg graveyard where the VonTrapps hid from the Nazis

View of Salzburg from Hohensalzburg Fortress, 400 feet above the Salzach River

Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.
To enjoy a variety of beautiful pictures from around the world, 
click HERE or on the box below. 

West Metro Mommy Reads
To participate in Saturday Snapshots: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) 
have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on the host blogsite. 
Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate 
for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. 
Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

The Snow Child - Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56


11250053
     The Snow Child is one of the most fascinating books I've read in a long time. The author enthralled me with her descriptions of the hardships of homesteading in Alaska in the 1920s and had me wondering if one of the characters was actually real or if she existed only in the imagination of the husband and wife who lived in the wilderness. I really could not put this book down! 
     The Snow Child was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for fiction in 2013, was given the 2013 Indies Choice Award for debut fiction, and received numerous other awards. In my opinion, all of them were richly deserved. Readers who enjoy adventure, history, and magical realism or who just like a good story will definitely enjoy this book.

Book Beginning:
Wolverine River, Alaska, 1920
Mabel had known there would be silence. That was the point, after all. No infants cooing or wailing. No neighbor children playfully hollering down the lane. No pad of small feet on wooden stairs worn smooth by generations, or clackety-clack of toys along the kitchen floor. All those sounds of her failure and regret would be left behind, and in their place there would be silence.

Friday 56 from 56% on my Kindle (Mabel is lost at night in a snowy forest.)
As it made its way beneath her clothes, along the skin of her ribs, down the curve of her spine, she knew it for what it was--a death chill, a chill that if allowed to take hold would freeze the life from her. As if to confirm her suspicions, her teeth began to chatter.

Genre: Literary Fiction / Metaphysical
Length: 404 Pages
Amazon Link: The Snow Child
Author Website Link: Eowyn Ivey

Rather than post the book's synopsis, here's the trailer:



                         

Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56.
Click HERE to connect to other Book Beginnings posts (sponsored by Rose City Reader)
Click HERE to join other Friday 56 bloggers (sponsored by Freda's Voice)

Friday, March 13, 2015

Fog - Saturday Snapshots

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we've had some foggy days recently. Seems to me this usually happens during the transition between seasons - easing out of winter into springtime. NOT fun to drive in, but this last batch wasn't too bad.

10:00 a.m., driving through a black-and-white world
The sun is trying to break through.
But there's still plenty of fog down closer to the Green River

Thursday, March 12, 2015

What We Keep - Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56

226858
     What We Keep is the touching story of two sisters, beginning at ages twelve and thirteen, told in flashbacks. As an adult, Ginny (the younger sister) travels across the country for a reunion with her mother whom she has not seen for thirty-five years. The story of the two sisters' childhood is revealed in Ginny's memories during her journey. 
     The author shows amazing insight into the way children think and react to changes in their lives. I enjoyed her sense of humor, characters, and description. This is a book I will read again.


Book Beginning:
Outside the airplane window the clouds are thick and rippled, unbroken as acres of land. They are suffused with peach-colored, early morning sun, gilded at the edges. Across the aisle, a man is taking a picture of them. Even the pilot couldn't keep still--"Folks," he just said, "we've got quite a sunrise out there. Might want to have a look." I like it when pilots make such comments. It lets me know they're awake.

The Friday 56 - From page 56 in my paperback. Here's what Ginny thinks about her ballet lessons.
     Though I enjoyed looking at ballerinas, I hated studying ballet. It was the crowns the ballerinas wore that I lusted after, the ride in the elaborately decorated sleigh I saw when we watched The Nutcracker on television. I had no desire to train my body to do difficult things requiring grace and precision.

Genre: Contemporary Fiction / Family Saga
Length: 274 Pages (Originally released in 1998)
Amazon Link:  What We Keep
Author Website/Blog: Elizabeth Berg Website

Synopsis from Goodreads:
     Do you ever really know your mother, your daughter, the people in your family? In this rich and rewarding new novel by the beloved bestselling author of Talk Before Sleep and The Pull of the Moon, a reunion between two sisters and their mother reveals how the secrets and complexities of the past have shaped the lives of the women in a family. 
     Ginny Young is on a plane, en route to see her mother, whom she hasn't seen or spoken to for thirty-five years. She thinks back to the summer of 1958, when she and her sister, Sharla, were young girls. At that time, a series of dramatic events--beginning with the arrival of a mysterious and sensual next-door neighbor--divided the family, separating the sisters from their mother. Moving back and forth in time between the girl she once was and the woman she's become, Ginny at last confronts painful choices that occur in almost any woman's life, and learns surprising truths about the people she thought she knew best. 
      Emotional honesty and a true understanding of people and relationships are combined in this moving and deeply satisfying new book by the novelist who "writes with humor and a big heart about resilience, love and hope. And the transcendence that redeems" (Andre Dubus). "From the Hardcover edition."

                         

Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56.
Click HERE to connect to other Book Beginnings posts (sponsored by Rose City Reader)
Click HERE to join other Friday 56 bloggers (sponsored by Freda's Voice)

Friday, March 6, 2015

Three Pounds - Saturday Snapshots

Shown below are several reasons why I haven't been able to lose the three pounds I have gained since my husband retired and started cooking every day. I believe the photos are self-explanatory. (Click to enlarge.)


Pear tart, anyone? That's apricot glaze on top.

Onion pizza with black olives and anchovies.

The results of a truffle making class.
Left to right: cayenne, Grand Marnier, espresso, mint, cherry, raspberry

Currently he's working his way through the "Breads, Sandwiches, and Pizzas" chapter of Jacques Pépin's Essential Pépin. 
Small, Light Country Loaves
Baguettes

Are elastic-waist jeans in my future?

Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.
To enjoy a variety of beautiful pictures from around the world, 
click HERE or on the box below. 

West Metro Mommy Reads
To participate in Saturday Snapshots: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) 
have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on the host blogsite. 
Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate 
for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. 
Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Willow Vale - Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56

     In Willow Vale, Alethea Williams tells a fascinating story of two people whose lives have been torn apart by The Great War. Francesca Sittoni's first husband dies, and she is forced into marriage to an abusive man who takes her and her daughter away from their small Tyrolean town to the United States. After her second husband's death in a mining accident, Francesca answers a newspaper ad to work as a housekeeper for Wyoming rancher Kent Reed.
     The war has damaged Kent Reed, both physically and emotionally. Through beautiful description and with believable character development, this book tells the story of how both Francesca and Kent overcome their hardships. It is obvious that the author has done her homework in her portrayal of life in rural Wyoming during this era. She has created a book that I enjoyed from beginning to end.
     By the way, I have previously featured another excellent book by this author: Walls for the Wind

Beginning:
Faces wet with tears, Francesca Sittoni and her mother clung to each other one final time. Her mother's bones felt as thin and fragile as those of a bird. With little enough to eat for any of them, Francesca knew her mother had been giving much of her own meager portion to her daughter and to her granddaughter, Elena, to build them up for the trip.

Friday 56:
The more Francesca thought about it, the more she pitied Kent Reed--and herself. She could see no happy ending for the two of them, and it made her sad to chop down the seedling of hope Agnes had planted before it had a chance to take root. But it was better so, that she destroy false hope, for her own sake and Elena's too.

Genre: Historical Fiction / Romance
Length: 162 Pages
Amazon Link:  Willow Vale
Author Website/Blog: Actually Alethea

Synopsis:
In this inspiring novel of hope, from opposite sides of an ocean two people wounded by the Great War are fated to meet and try to rebuild their lives. Francesca Sittoni was brought against her will to America by the husband she never loved. Now she finds herself alone-widowed, pregnant, and with a small daughter to support. Terrified of being deported back to the Tyrol valley of her birth in the Dolomite Alps of Italy, Francesca answers an ad placed by Wyoming rancher and former dough boy Kent Reed. As their contracted year together passes, Francesca begins to ask if she is cook and housekeeper to Kent...or a secretly sought mail-order bride as the meddling neighbors insist? Only Kent Reed, burned by mustard gas and his spoiled former wife's desertion, knows his heart's true desire when it comes to the beautiful Tyrolean woman now living in the uncomfortably close quarters of his small ranch house.
Sharon Wildwind of Story Circle Book reviews says, "This book is not only a fine read in itself, but it also could be a springboard to read with older teen-agers as an introduction to discussing what real love and real maturity mean. A lovely, hopeful story."

                         

Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56.
Click HERE to connect to other Book Beginnings posts (sponsored by Rose City Reader)
Click HERE to join other Friday 56 bloggers (sponsored by Freda's Voice)

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Writing Rituals?


What do other authors have to say about their writing rituals?
Find out more in "Magnolia Corner" in Southern Writers Magazine

                                              

BLUEBONNETS FOR ELLY is available in paperback and ebook formats:
      Sweet Cravings Publishing 
      Amazon  
      Amazon UK
      Barnes and Noble
      CreateSpace (paperback only)