The Sunday Salon... Books Coming soon to a shelf near you... and Kindle for Mac!

It's been a beautiful week in Connecticut! The sun is finally showing its face and the crocuses have too. Taking your reading outside is such a treat after a long winter, and that's exactly what I did this week. I've spent the last week walking to Gatlinburg with Morgan Kinneson from King County and have enjoyed every step. Along the way, Morgan and I met a handful of quirky characters that brought a smile to my face. This week I'll be posting my review of Walking to Gatlinburg by Howard Frank Mosher... Exciting news for John Sanford fans as the 20th Prey Novel will soon come out. The name is Storm Prey, it's a new Lucas Davenport thriller, and I happen to have an uncorrected proof of it in my hands! The publisher is finalizing some fun marketing campaigns, stay tuned for more news about that next month... Ted Dekker also has a new thriller coming out in April 13th called The Bride Collector. I can't say too much about it yet, but suffice it to say it I have a better appreciation of serial killers... Emily St. John Mandell, who wrote the wonderful book Last Night in Montreal, is coming out with her second novel, The Singer's Gun... On to some great Kindle news for Mac owners! Kindle for Mac is now available! It's a free application for Macintosh owners. If you have a Kindle already, you can access your books, bookmarks & annotations right from your Mac! This application has been available for a while for PC, but as with most Mac applications is a PC world Macintosh owners had to wait just a bit longer. I love seeing my book covers in full color on the computer screen too!

Here are two other wonderful books to be on the lookout for...

A Soft Place to Land by Susan Rebecca White... Back of the Book, For more than ten years, Naomi and Phil Harrison enjoyed a marriage of heady romance, tempered only by the needs of their children. But on a vacation alone, the couple perishes in a flight over the Grand Canyon. After the funeral, their daughters, Ruthie and Julia, are shocked by the provisions in their will... Spanning nearly two decades, the sisters’ journeys take them from their familiar home in Atlanta to sophisticated bohemian San Francisco, a mountain town in Virginia, the campus of Berkeley, and lofts in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. As they heal from loss, search for love, and begin careers, their sisterhood, once an oasis, becomes complicated by resentment, anger, and jealousy. It seems as though the echoes of their parents’ deaths will never stop reverberating—until another shocking accident changes everything once again. I received a copy of A Soft Place to Land this week and it looks to be a wonderful story. I did read a little and found the writing to be so enjoyable. I can't wait to dive in now. I can see this to be a good reading group selection and there are wonderful praises for A Soft Place to Land including one by Kathryn Stockett (The Help), who says, "It's smart, funny, moving and wise." I also really love the cover, it just reminds me of lazy summer days as a teenager. It's due to be released April 6th by Simon & Schuster. I'll have a few review after I finish.

She-Rain by Michael Cogdill... Back of the Book, In the early 20th Century, a pair of North Carolina mountain children sow the seed of a love that becomes their only solace in the hard yet beautiful world they know. They grow it from steep ground of poverty, ignorance, and violence. A landscape so brutal it can kill hope long before claiming life... Bloodshed years later finally sends Frank Locke on the run, deep into wilderness, abandoning his extraordinary love, Mary Lizbeth. When a whitewater river washes this desperate soul into the hands of Sophia, he discovers a luminous woman steeped in mystery, trapped in a tragically brilliant life. Far ahead of her time. Secreted from the world. As she awakens Frank’s mind, they rise to meet a love that binds three people for a lifetime. Michael Cogdill's prose is beautiful. Written in an Appalachian voice, this love story will have you turning the pages. It reminds me of Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain a bit. Not so much for the time period of the Civil War, but the flavor of the book and the characters. Release date is scheduled for March 31st! A full review coming soon!

What are you reading this week?! Hope you enjoy the week ahead! Stop back this week for a review of Walking to Gatlinburg by Howard Frank Mosher, and a review of The Favorites by Mary Yukari Waters...

Happy Reading... Suzanne

A Story of Love, Loss, Sacrifice & Obsession... AND another Great Giveaway for Chick with Books Blogoversary Celebration Day 3!

A Story of Love, Loss, Sacrifice and Obsession...

AND another great Giveaway for Chick with Books Blogoversary Celebration...

And the winner is... Helen of California! Congrats to Helen! And Thank you to EVERYONE who Entered, Tweeted and Blogged about the Giveaway!

Last summer there was a lot of buzz about a new author by the name of Emily St. John Mandel. Her debut novel was called Last Night in Montreal. I was in for a big treat because Caitlin of Unbridled Books sent a copy my way to read! The characters were so rich, and I was immediately drawn into the story. It was hypnotizing... It was like a jigsaw puzzle of people and places... and it was wonderful! Here's what I wrote about Last Night in Montreal when I reviewed it last July...

In the opening line of the book we read “ No one stays forever” and with this we begin unraveling the mystery behind Lilia... We first meet Lilia casually walking out the door of her apartment going for the paper never to return. She leaves behind Eli, who starts to notice the time and wonders where she is... then desperately realizes that she’s gone... her only mark on the apartment they share, a polaroid photograph of her when she was twelve, neatly removed from above the headboard.... From here we are thrown into Lilia’s life before Eli, as she was growing

up, constantly on the move with her father, changing names & identities, moving from state to state on an adventure of a lifetime, starting with a early morning ‘abduction’ in a snowy driveway, from a home she had known for 7 years into the arms of a recognizable stranger, bandages on her arms...

In a refreshing style, Emily St. John Mandel moves from present to past (and back again) from chapter to chapter with incredible continuity. Writing the story moving back and forth in time kept my attention. And made it so interesting! How parts of stories lead into other stories was amazing sometimes. The bits of information that were dropped like crumbs thru the story made me keep turning those pages to learn more. There are really 3 stories here, the story of young Lilia’s abduction and wanderings, the story of the detective who sacrifices his life looking for her, and the story of how everything in the past connects to the present day and how it all comes together in the end. The story rushes forward until the present and the past collide in Montreal....

With rich characters that are so human, so believable, so sad, I was drawn into their story. Their histories well developed. The writing done well. A story of love, loss, sacrifice and obsession. The story is moving. I recommend you pick it up and read it! You will enjoy it! (You can read the complete review to learn more about the book)

Unbridled Books joins the celebration by sponsoring a great giveaway for a copy of Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel for a U.S. reader of Chick with Books! Unbridled Books is dedicated to publishing high-quality works that are moving, beautiful, and surprising. Their name, Unbridled Books, was chosen to represent a publishing venture that is both energetic and independent. Thanks Caitlin and Unbridled Books for joining in on the festivities! Here's how to enter...

*For One Entry, leave me a comment with your email address!

*For One more entry, Blog or tweet about this giveaway and leave me the link.

This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.(No PO boxes). The book will be shipped to the winner directly from the publishers. Contest ends 11:59pm EST on Feb.27th, 2010. I will randomly pick the winners the next day and email them! Good Luck!

*P.S. Emily St. John Mandel's next novel is coming out this summer! More about that soon...

Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel... A Review

Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel

I just finished Last Night in Montreal... I’m at a loss for words.

It was hypnotizing....

It was like a jigsaw puzzle of people and places... and it was wonderful!

From the Inside Cover...

Lilia Albert has been leaving people behind her entire life. She spends her childhood and adolescence traveling constantly and changing identities. In adulthood, she finds it impossible to stop. haunted by an inability to remember her early childhood, she moves restlessly from city to city, abandoning lovers along the way, possibly still followed by a private detective who has pursued her for years. Then her latest lover follows her from New York to Montreal, determined to learn her secrets and make sure she’s safe.

In the opening line of the book we read “ No one stays forever” and with this we begin unraveling the mystery behind Lilia... We first meet Lilia casually walking out the door of her apartment going for the paper never to return. She leaves behind Eli, who starts to notice the time and wonders where she is... then desperately realizes that she’s gone... her only mark on the apartment they share, a polaroid photograph of her when she was twelve, neatly removed from above the headboard.... From here we are thrown into Lilia’s life before Eli, as she was growing up, constantly on the move with her father, changing names & identities, moving from state to state on an adventure of a lifetime, starting with a early morning ‘abduction’ in a snowy driveway, from a home she had known for 7 years into the arms of a recognizable stranger, bandages on her arms...

In a refreshing style, Emily St. John Mandel moves from present to past (and back again) from chapter to chapter with incredible continuity. Writing the story moving back and forth in time kept my attention. And made it so interesting! How parts of stories lead into other stories was amazing sometimes. The bits of information that were dropped like crumbs thru the story made me keep turning those pages to learn more. There are really 3 stories here, the story of young Lilia’s abduction and wanderings, the story of the detective who sacrifices his life looking for her, and the story of how everything in the past connects to the present day and how it all comes together in the end. The story rushes forward until the present and the past collide in Montreal....

With rich characters that are so human, so believable, so sad, I was drawn into their story. Their histories well developed. The writing done well. I loved Lilia and her cryptic life, but I think Michaela was my favorite character. She's the daughter of the detective searching for Lilia. As he searches for Lilia, Michaela becomes a lost soul and an integral part of Lilia's story in the end...

A story of love, loss, sacrifice and obsession. The story is moving. I recommend you pick it up and read it! You will enjoy it! And Last Night in Montreal is Emily St. John Mandel’s debut in the world of publishing! I can’t wait to see what other words she’ll be putting down on the page in the future!

I had heard so much buzz about this book, I am glad that I finally was able to read it! A Big Thank You to Caitlin of Unbridled Books for sending me a copy!