First Lines Friday...

         That night, when Mrs. Chamberlain called, Emira could only piece together the words “…take Briar somewhere…” and “…pay you double.”

In a crowded apartment and across from someone screaming “That’s my song!,” Emira stood next to her girlfriends Zara, Josefa, and Shaunie. It was a Saturday night in September, and there was a little over an hour left of Shaunie’s twenty-sixth birthday. Emira turned the volume up on her phone and asked Mrs. Chamberlain to say it again.
        ………… Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid  


I just read a blurb about this book in Entertainment Weekly. In that blurb we find out what Emira decides and... what happens.  Do these first lines make you want to keep going? I found it intriguing... and I guess someone else did too, because even before this novel hits the shelves December 31st, the rights to a movie deal have already been signed.

Read an excerpt and decide for yourself at Penguin Random House. You can also listen to an excerpt there too!

Categorized as Literary Fiction; Women's Fiction and published by G.P. Putnam Sons, an imprint of Penguin group. 

The Sunday Salon and Wonderful Children's Books

Welcome to the Sunday Salon! It's that time of the week we all get to kick back and relax and talk about books! So, grab a cup of joe and find a comfy chair and let's talk books. And this week it's children's books. I love children's books. A simple story with beautiful illustrations just blows me away sometimes. Even though I have no children, I can appreciate the beauty and artistry that goes into some of these wonderful books. As adults we can find meaning in some of these children's books that hit a chord with our own lives. Sometimes the story can be silly, with humor that we can appreciate as adults, sometimes the story can make us pause to look at the world around us. In my travels this week, I came upon 3 books that I thought were simply wonderful...

Paul Meets Bernadette by Rosy Lamb... "Paul is a fish who used to go around in circles. He made big circles and little circles. He circled from left to right and from right to left. He circled from top to bottom and from bottom to top. What else was there to do? Until one day Bernadette drops in and shows Paul that there is a whole world out there, right outside his bowl, with so many things to see. A banana-shaped boat! A blue elephant with a spoutlike trunk (be quiet when she’s feeding her babies)! A lovely lunetta butterfly, with tortoise-shell rims! Simple saturated paintings play off this charming ode to an active imagination — and the way that life changes when a bewitching creature opens your eyes."

This book has gotten a lot of praise from it's wonderful story to the beautiful simple paintings that Rosy Lamb has created to go along it. Teaching children the power of imagination,  I'm sure if we open our eyes that we too can re-imagine the world in all it's beauty. Published by Candlewick, this book will be released Dec. 10th! And can be pre-ordered in Hardcover .


Once Upon a Memory by Nina Laden... Does a feather remember it once was a bird? Does a book remember it once was a word? When a feather drifts through a child's window, a magical journey begins. As the boy follows the feather, he is swept away to a world filled with adorable animals, where fantasy and reality come together in surprising and playful ways. From the cake that once was grain to the ocean that once was rain, whimsical "before" and "after" scenes offer readers a peek at the world as seen through the eyes of a curious child, ultimately asking the question, "What will you remember?"

The words to this story, a poem in reality, just stuck me as thought-provoking and beautiful. Do we really pay attention to the things around us and reflect on their origins? I think maybe not enough, but this wonderful book nudges us in the right direction to ponder the wonders all around us. This book has garnered a lot of great reviews and has a starred review in Publisher's Weekly to boot. Once Upon a Memory will be available in Hardcover on Dec. 3rd! And is available for pre-order.

Cinders: A Chicken Cinderella by Jan Brett...  Tasha feeds her flock in the old tower and falls asleep on a bed of straw.  So begins a magical night...  In Jan Brett's version of a favorite fairy tale, Cinders is pushed around by her comical sisters, Pecky and Bossy, and their haughty mother, Largessa. This night the chickens fly off to Prince Cockerel's Ice Palace.   All except poor Cinders until a Silkie flies in with her magic wand and transforms the little hen into a beautiful and mysterious guest at the ball.  Fanciful illustrations capture the grandeur of eighteenth-century Russia while Jan's chicken characters provide the fun and romance that she brings to the Cinderella story. Jan traveled to Russia and readers will be in awe of the Ice Palace aglow under a deep blue moonlit sky, exquisite ball gowns on the comely pullets, uniforms with gold braids and buttons on the cockerels, striking Russian architecture transformed into ice in the borders, and a very funny flock of chickens who provide an appealing, original look at this snowy Cinderella. 

I love Jan Brett's beautiful illustrations in her many books. This story should be no exception. And the story should be just plain fun! Of course being a "Chick with Books", I'm a bit partial to "Chick" books and this just was calling my name. Not just a wonderful take on a fairy tale we are all familiar with, but a beautiful wintry tale as well that would make a great gift book during the snowy season. Published by Putnam for Young Readers, Cinders: A Chicken Cinderella is being released this tuesday, Nov. 5th! It will be available in Hardcover AND for Kindle as well!

The Week in Review...

Tuesday Oct. 29th I posted New Releases that are meant to inspire you! Including a new book by Richard Paul Evans. In case you missed them, here is the link!

For Halloween, I posted that famous Halloween poem, The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. Here's the link!

And on Friday, Nov. 1st, I reviewed The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun-mi Hwang. It's a modern classic tale translated from Korean for the first time. It has been on the best seller list in South Korea for a decade and now we in the Unites States have a chance to enjoy it. I really enjoyed it. Here is the link to read the review.

This week in reading...

Well, I started reading The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, and I am hooked! And I downloaded Wild by Cheryl Strayed, which I am almost done with and have enjoyed in a different kind of way. Cheryl's writing is wonderful, but she's draws me into her world so much that I am really feeling a roller coaster of emotions as she hikes the Pacific Coast Trail reflecting back on losing her Mother, screwing up her marriage and hitting the lowest of the low in her life. I decided to read it because I've heard so many great reviews and it was also one of the World Book Night choices. Look for a review coming soon.

My reading group has chosen The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman  as this months pick. What's it about? Here's a bit from the publisher...  Tom Sherbourne is a lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, a tiny island a half day’s boat journey from the coast of Western Australia. When a baby washes up in a rowboat, he and his young wife Isabel decide to raise the child as their own. The baby seems like a gift from God, and the couple’s reasoning for keeping her seduces the reader into entering the waters of treacherous morality. A good book choice for a reading group is one that has potential for a good discussion, and The Light Between Oceans seems to fit that mark. I'll let you know how how the group enjoyed it next month.

So, how was your reading week?! What do you think about children's books? Can we as adults enjoy them too?

Happy reading... Suzanne

Do you Prey?...

The first machines on the site were the wreckers, like steel dinosaurs, plucking and pulling at the houses with jaws that ripped off chimneys, shingles, dormers, and eaves, clapboard and brick and stone and masonry, beams and stairs and balconies and joists, headers and doorjambs. Old dreams, dead ambitions, and lost lives, remembrance roses and spring lilacs, went in the dump trucks all together.

Buries Prey by John Sandford (release date: May 10th, 2011!)

Exciting news for John Sandford Fans with the release of the 21st mystery in the PREY series! Last May, I traveled back in time to 1992 and reviewed Silent Prey as part of the Days of Prey Tour, in which 21 Bloggers each reviewed one of the 20 books in the PREY series. Courtesy of G.P. Putmam Sons I am getting a sneak peak at the new book! Don't worry, I won't make you wait until May to hear all about it! I'll be cracking the spine on this very soon and reviewing it! But just from glancing through it, I think it's going to be nothing less that terrific! Do you Prey? What's your favorite Prey book?

First Lines...

"On the day that Nan Gilbert decided to kill herself, she awoke sometime after noon to the sound of her neighbor playing the radio in his backyard. The song was new to her, but the voice was familiar. It was Paul Simon singing without Garfunkel. And though "Kodachrome" was a rueful song about the bright-colored days of youth, it seemed quaint to Nan, who couldn't imagine that people still experienced the world in any kind of light." ... The Other Life by Ellen Meister (coming Feb. 2011)

The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva... A TLC Book Tour Stop

Two families, one terrible secret, and a painting to die for…

Determined to sever his ties with the Office, Gabriel Allon has retreated to the windswept cliffs of Cornwall with his beautiful Venetian-born wife Chiara. But once again his seclusion is interrupted by a visitor from his tangled past: the endearingly eccentric London art dealer, Julian Isherwood. As usual, Isherwood has a problem. And it is one only Gabriel can solve.

In the ancient English city of Glastonbury, an art restorer has been brutally murdered and a long-lost portrait by Rembrandt mysteriously stolen. Despite his reluctance, Gabriel is persuaded to use his unique skills to search for the painting and those responsible for the crime. But as he painstakingly follows a trail of clues leading from Amsterdam to Buenos Aires and, finally, to a villa on the graceful shores of Lake Geneva, Gabriel discovers there are deadly secrets connected to the painting. And evil men behind them.

Before he is done, Gabriel will once again be drawn into a world he thought he had left behind forever, and will come face to face with a remarkable cast of characters: a glamorous London journalist who is determined to undo the worst mistake of her career, an elusive master art thief who is burdened by a conscience, and a powerful Swiss billionaire who is known for his good deeds but may just be behind one of the greatest threats facing the world. Filled with remarkable twists and turns of plot, and told with seductive prose, The Rembrandt Affair is more than just summer entertainment of the highest order. It is a timely reminder that there are men in the world who will do anything for money... From the Publisher

Gabriel Allon and I have met before. I had picked up Daniel Silva's The English Assassin a long time ago because I was intrigued with the idea of an art restorer who was trying to leave his illustrious past behind, but couldn't quite put it all behind him. I didn't consider myself a "spy novel" reader, but with the opening of those pages of The English Assassin, Daniel Silva hooked me. With his great writing I was immediately drawn into the story, and all my illusions of what a "spy novel" was all about faded away. I was smitten with Gabriel Allon and loved what I was reading. So, when Lisa of TLC Book Tours asked me if I'd like to host Daniel Silva and The Rembrandt Affair, I jumped at the chance! I hadn't seen Gabriel in a while... Hey, he's undercover quite a bit! This Book Tour is a little different, because instead of the "normal" review, all the tour hosts are completing a fun 10 questions related to the book. So let's get to those questions...

1. If you were to write a blurb in fewer than three sentences for THE REMBRANDT AFFAIR, what would it be? The Rembrandt Affair is a fast-paced thriller that will put you deep in the world of art, assassins and family secrets long thought hidden away. Great writing, a story with amazing depth that touches on the horrors of the Holocaust and its lasting effects, and a hero that will hold your attention long after the sun sets.

2. Gabriel Allon is a talented spy and assassin, but also a master art restorer. If you could have two careers that sem to be complete opposites, what would they be? I would be a Art Historian for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a special agent with the FBI. Reading about what was happening behind the scenes in The Rembrandt Affair will make you want to be "007" too!

3. What three words would you use to describe the character of Gabriel Allon? Determined, Honorable, Highly intelligent.

4. THE REMBRANDT AFFAIR takes the reader all over the world. Of all the locations mentioned, which would be your ideal vacation spot? There are so many wonderful locations in the book, but I would love to visit Israel. Beautiful and rich in history I think it would make for a very special vacation.

5. Art theft plays a major role in the novel. If no crime were involved, what piece of art would you like to have in your home? Renoir, Picasso, or any painting by the French Impressionists would be welcome on my walls. A beautiful pastel by Mary Cassatt?! Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh or A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Seurat ?! But I think I would love to have The Dream by Henri Rousseau most of all. Henri Rousseau was a self taught artists and his jungle scenes are beautiful. The Dream was his last painting.

6. Zoe Reed is a powerful female character in the novel. Tell us about an influential woman in your life. My mother has been a powerful force in my life, giving me the tools and knowledge to be the creative woman I am today.

7.Who was your favorite "good guy" in THE REMBRANDT AFFAIR and why? Of course my favorite good guy would have to be Gabriel Allon, he is just the most honorable character with such a strong force within him to fight for what's right. But, I would also like to add Mikhail Abramov aka Mikhail Danilov to my "favorite guy" answer. Mikhail goes undercover in a very dangerous mission with Zoe Reed, and even in the face of death, Mikhail forsakes his own life to protect Zoe. That is dedication and makes Mikhail one amazing man.

8. All of the technology discussed in the novel is real. Does any of it surprise you? We are so bombarded with amazing technology every day that no, none of the technology in the novel surprised me, but I did enjoy learning the fact that when a cell phone or lap top, for example, was "bugged", that the agents referred to it as "owning" that piece of equipment.

9. What celebrity would play Gabriel Allon if THE REMBRANDT AFFAIR were on the big screen. I have always thought that Gabriel Byrne would make a perfect Gabriel Allon. I just loved him in Point of No Return, and in that movie he played a top secret government agent that recruited and trained assassins.

10. Which fellow book-loving friend do you think would enjoy THE REMBRANDT AFFAIR? Tag them here and we will mail a finished copy of the novel! My first thought of who would enjoy this was fellow blogger, Cym Lowell, because not only is he an author in his own right, but he has also written an international thriller. Enjoy Cym!

About the Author... Daniel Silva is the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Unlikely Spy, The Mark of the Assassin, The Marching Season, The Kill Artist, The English Assassin, The Confessor, A Death in Vienna, Price of Fire, The Messenger, The Secret Servant, Moscow Rules and The Defector. He is married to NBC News Today correspondent Jamie Gangel. They have two children, Lily and Nicholas. In 2009 Silva was appointed to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Council.

Learn more about the author & his books at Daniel Silva's website! I want to thank Lisa of TLC Book Tours for inviting me to be part of Daniel Silva's book tour for The Rembrandt Affair! I really enjoyed the book. It was quite a page turner and I got to visit with my old friend Gabriel Allon again! And BTW, you can enjoy reading The Rembrandt Affair without reading any of the other previous Daniel Silva books, they are stand alone stories. Daniel Silva's Book Tour for The Rembrandt Affair is winding down, but you can check out the other Tour Hosts at TLC Book Tours. *P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!

Let's Celebrate Historical Fiction... and wrap up the One Year Blogoversary Celebration with the final Giveaway BUNDLE!

Let's Celebrate Historical Fiction!...

with the final Blogoversary Giveaway!

And the Lucky Winner is... Diane! Congrats! Thank you to EVERYONE who joined in on the fun by entering, blogging and tweeting!

I love historical fiction! The blending of fact and fiction in the hands of a talented writer can transport us to a time and place we may be familiar with on the surface, but the added story makes it all come alive. It's been a wonderful week of celebrations, and I'm ending the festivities with a fantastic Historical Fiction Bundle giveaway sponsored by G.P. Putnam's Sons! G.P. Putnam's Sons is a division of Penguin Group USA & is the industry's #1 New York Times bestselling hardcover imprint, a position it has held for more than two decades! The above photograph from Lydia's desk at Putnam shows the wonderful treat in store for one lucky winner! The bundle includes one ARC (advanced readers copy) of The Creation of Eve by Lynn Cullen, one ARC of The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O'Connor McNees, and one finished hard cover copy of The Postmistress by Sarah Blake! Before we get to how to enter, let's read a little about the books in the giveaway...

The Creation of Eve by Lynn Cullen... A lush and compelling tale of royal intrigue and artistic longing, set in the sixteenth–century Spanish court. The Creation of Eve is based on the true but little-known story of Sofonisba Anguissola, the first renowned female portraitist of the Renaissance. After a scandal in Michelangelo’s workshop, Sofonisba flees Italy and joins the Spanish court of King Felipe II to be a lady-in-waiting to his young bride. Sofonisba befriends the queen, only to become embroiled in a love triangle involving the queen, the king, and the king’s illegitimate half brother, Don Juan. The Creation of Eve combines art, romance, and history from the golden age in Spain in a story that asks the question: Can you ever truly know another person’s heart? You can read the first chapter at Lynn Cullen's website! Plus you can find a readers guide and other interesting links there.

The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O'Connor McNees... In her debut novel Kelly O’Connor McNees deftly mixes fact and fiction as she imagines a summer lost to history, carefully purged from Louisa’s letters and journals, a summer that would change the course of Louisa’s writing career—and inspire the story of love and heartbreak between Jo and Teddy “Laurie” Laurence, Jo’s devoted neighbor and kindred spirit. You can read more about the book and author at Kelly O'Connor McNees website!

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake... What would happen if a postmistress chose not to deliver the mail? It is 1940. While the war is raging in Europe, President Roosevelt promises he won't send American boys over to fight. Iris James is the postmistress of Franklin, Massachusetts a small town at the end of Cape Cod. She firmly believes her job is to deliver and keep people's secrets, to pass along the news of love and sorrow that letters carry. Faithfully she stamps and sends the letters between people such as the newlyweds Emma and Will Fitch, who has gone to London to help out during the Blitz. But one day she slips a letter into her pocket, and leaves it there. You can read more about the book and the first chapter at Sarah Blake's website!

One lucky will win these this great bundle of historical fiction books! Thanks Lydia of G.P.Putnam Sons for joining in on the festivities! So, Here's How to Enter...

*First, You MUST be a Follower to enter this particular giveaway! Not a follower yet? No problem, sign up by clicking on the 'followers" button on the sidebar to the left! Just let me know you became a new follower! And everyone who was following Chick with Books prior to today, will get an extra entry!

*Leave me a comment with your email address.

*Blog or Tweet about this giveaway and leave me a link to get another entry!

This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only (No PO boxes). The books will be shipped to the winners directly from the publisher. Contest ends 11:59pm EST on March 5th. I will randomly pick the winner the next day and email them! (please check your emails!) Good Luck!