giveaway: the secret speech

Happy Memorial Day! Thanks to Hachette I have one giveaway copy of The Secret Speech by Tom Rob Smith.

Here's the link to the Reading Group Guide. Also, check out what Publishers Weekly had to say:
"Set in 1956, bestseller Smith's edgy second thriller to feature Leo Demidov (after Child 44) depicts the paranoia and instability of the Soviet Union after the newly installed Khrushchev regime leaks a secret speech laying out Stalin's brutal abuses. Now working as a homicide detective, Leo has long since repudiated his days as an MGB officer, but his former colleagues, fearful of reprisals from their victims, have begun taking their own lives. Leo himself becomes the target of Fraera, the wife of a priest he imprisoned. Now the leader of a violent criminal gang, Fraera kidnaps Leo's daughter, Zoya, and threatens to kill Zoya if Leo doesn't liberate her husband from his gulag prison. Shifting from Moscow to Siberia and to a Hungary convulsed by revolution, this fast-paced novel is packed with too many incidents for Smith to dwell on any in great depth. Though its drama often lacks emotional resonance, this story paints a memorable portrait of post-Stalinist Russia at its dawn."

The rules: Enter by leaving a comment to this post with your email (if I can't contact you, you can't win). You can gain additional entries by leaving separate comments letting me know that you're a follower or have posted a link to the giveaway on your site. The deadline to enter is 11:59pm Pacific on June 12. Winners will be selected at random. Since this is from Hachette the winners must have mailing addresses in the US or Canada; no PO Boxes.

review: private by james patterson (and maxine paetro)

As one of the top private investigators in California, Jack Morgan and the members of his firm are often called upon by private citizens and the police to investigate crimes and civil matters. As the first book in this new James Patterson series opens, Jack is asked by a friend to investigate the murder of his friend’s wife. Jack is closely tied to both his friend (who the police suspect) and the victim (who Jack used to date) and can’t imagine who would want Shelby dead; that is until the investigation uncovers Shelby’s secret life. But that’s not Jack’s only case. His uncle, a NFL team owner, has asked him to look into score fixing for a number of games deemed suspicious. Jack and his team are also working on a serial murder case that has a twist—the victims don’t appear to have been killed by the same person. Does the killer have multiple personalities as one of the investigators suggests?

Each of the three investigations held my interest, but the serial killer was definitely the one that sucked me in especially when the motivation (which is completely off the wall, yet still imaginable) started to be revealed. Although Private follows Patterson’s typical formula, I did enjoy the way certain aspects of the story tied into each other. I further appreciated that although this is a series, Private can also be read as a standalone title.
4/5
ARC Review
Review copy provided by the publisher, Little, Brown and Company.

giveaway winners: the cradle

Congratulations to Jo, Virginia C, and Marilu who each win a copy of The Cradle.

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day!

giveaway: the devlin diary

Thanks to Simon and Schuster, I have the opportunity to giveaway one copy of The Devlin Diary by Christi Phillips.

Here's my review while the one from Publishers Weekly is below.
"Fans of historical romance and traditional whodunits alike will welcome Phillips's second novel, which like her debut, The Rossetti Letter (2007), alternates between past and present. In the present, historian Clare Donovan, who delved into 17th-century Venetian intrigue with handsome Cambridge fellow Andrew Kent in The Rossetti Letter, is now a temporary lecturer at Cambridge's Trinity College, packed with scheming academics roiling in a hotbed of nearly every human frailty imaginable. When dashing and venal Professor Derek Goodman is found slain clutching a page of a coded diary by 17th-century physician Hannah Devlin, Clare and Andrew get on the trails of vicious killers from different centuries. The mysterious death of Charles II's sister, Princess Henriette-Anne, wife of Louis XIV's dissolute brother, propels the main historical narrative. Phillips's command of period detail and her sure touch with emotional relationships help make this a stand-out. "

The rules: Enter by leaving a comment to this post with your email (if I can't contact you, you can't win). You can gain additional entries by leaving separate comments letting me know that you're a follower or have posted a link to the giveaway on your site. The deadline to enter is 11:59pm Pacific on June 5. Winner will be selected at random. Since this is from Simon and Schuster the winner must have a mailing address in the US; no PO Boxes.

review and tour: the devlin diary by christi phillips

There are two stories inside The Devlin Diary: Hannah, a widow practicing physick, in 1672 and Claire, a visiting professor at Trinity College, in 2008. The stories come together when Claire finds Hannah’s coded diary in the library. Unfortunately, Claire trusts the wrong person with that information and he steals her research idea. But then he ends up murdered, so to solve the murder and get back the diary, Claire works with the man who recommended her for the job. Both of the stories are incredibly interesting with their respective murder mysteries, but Hannah’s is fleshed out the best. Both also kept me guessing as to who the murderer would be, but again Hannah’s has a far better resolution. In fact, the reveal of the murderer in the 2008 story was quite disappointing.
4/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Gallery Books.

There's a giveaway for this tour! Also, check out the other participating sites:
rundpinne.blogspot.com
frugalplus.com
tableforseven-julie.blogspot.com
bibliophilicbookblog.com
ajourneyofbooks.halfzero.net
mybookaddictionandmore.wordpress.com
justanothernewblog.blogspot.com
thebookgirl.net
tweezlereads.blogspot.com
booktumbling.com
maryinhb.blogspot.com
renees-reads.blogspot.com
takingtimeformommy.blogspot.com
startingfresh-gaby317.blogspot.com
starshadowblog.com
writeforareader.blogspot.com
bibliophilesretreat.com
jeannesramblings.com
blogbusinessworld.blogspot.com
tarmyblogspot.blogspot.com
booksandmakeup.blogspot.com
luckyrosiescreations.blogspot.com
celticladysreviews.blogspot.com
bibliophile23.wordpress.com
detweilermom.blogspot.com
chrissysworldofbooks.blogspot.com
dkay401-challenges.blogspot.com
amusingreviews.blogspot.com
bridget3420.blogspot.com
juniperrbreeeze.blogspot.com
thatsanovelidea.blogspot.com
reading-extensively.blogspot.com
jewelknits.blogspot.com
thriftyandfrugalliving.com
seemichelleread.blogspot.com
tilwereadagain.blogspot.com
reminderlist.blogspot.com
lovingheartmommy.com
hip2bhomeschooling.blogspot.com
thebooktree.blogspot.com
thestuffyouneedtoknow.blogspot.com
twilightsdance.blogspot.com

giveaway winners: the host, forbidden passion, and stay a little longer

Congratulations to the winners of the following books:
The Host: Ladydoor, GMR, and holdenj
Forbidden Passion: nfmgirl, booklover0226, and Virginia C
Stay a Little Longer: Karen B, k_sunshine1977, and Teresa

giveaway: prospect park west

With thanks to Simon and Schuster I have one copy of Amy Sohn's Prospect Park West to offer up to a lucky winner!

My review is here. This is what Publishers Weekly said:
"Former New York magazine 'Mating' columnist Sohn zeroes in on the more-fertile-than-thou crowd in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood in her vinegary latest (after My Old Man). Like a Grand Hotel for the yuppie set, the lives of moody, angry, dissatisfied mommies intersect on the playgrounds and co-ops of their overpriced hood. Among them, Lizzie, whose lesbian proclivities mask her loneliness; Rebecca, whose libidoless spouse prefers his role as dad over husband; Karen, a social-climbing conniver; and Melora, a former Manhattanite whose psychiatric maladies are as pathetic as they are numerous. The gals in this comedy of bad manners are burned out, bitchy and beyond salvation as they maneuver to be noticed and loved. Meanwhile, there's more name-dropping than in an edition of Page Six, and while Sohn is obviously intent on skewering the annoying urban mommy stereotype, 400 pages is a stretch for material that's been blogged to death. There are moments of brutal honesty, but they're far too few to allow readers to muster an ounce of sympathy for a crew of caricatures so broadly drawn and sadly conceived."

The rules: Enter by leaving a comment to this post with your email (if I can't contact you, you can't win). You can gain additional entries by leaving separate comments letting me know that you're a follower or have posted a link to the giveaway on your site. The deadline to enter is 11:59pm Pacific on June 5. Winner will be selected at random. Since this is from Simon and Schuster the winner must have a mailing address in the US; no PO Boxes.