The Life O'Reilly Winner is....

Thanks so much to everyone that entered to win their own copy of The Life O'Reilly by Brian Cohen. Without further ado...the Winner is:

Deborah Wellenstein

Congrats to you!

Thanks so much to Hachette Book Group and please come back often for more great giveaways! Don't forget to add your book giveaways to the new linky posted every Thursday!

Time to Vote for August 2010 Book Club Selection

This month I asked for some suggestions and this is what I got. Here are the choices for August 2010. Please use the gadget to the right to place your vote. I will announce the book selection on August 1st If you are new to my site, and don't know about the Busy Moms Monthly Online Book Club - click here to learn more!

Transister Radio by Chris Bohjalian
Set in the village of Bartlett, Vermont, Trans-Sister Radio tells the story of four people who are drawn into a complicated tangle of relationships—relationships that will profoundly change each of them. When Allison, grade-school teacher and divorced mother of a teenage daughter, meets Dana, she feels she's at the beginning of an intense, ideal romance. But Dana reveals that he's always felt himself to be a woman and plans to have the surgery that will make that feeling a reality, and soon Allison's love for Dana and her perception of herself is severely tested. She grapples with the fact that she might not be able to love Dana in a woman's body. She worries whether her teaching career will survive the scandal that living with a transsexual in a small New England town is sure to cause. She wonders what effect the situation will have on her relationship with her daughter, Carly, and how her ex-husband, Will, is going to view the situation.




Allison stands by Dana through the surgery and recovery period, enduring the opprobrium of the local community and a growing unease about her own sexual identity. Threatening notes left in her school mailbox, obscene graffiti scrawled on her front door, pressure from the school board to take a leave of absence, and a local petition about teacher morality all contribute to making Allison and Dana's relationship both a public issue and a private ordeal. Even Will and Carly become increasingly involved in Allison and Dana's predicament, and when they decide to air a program on transsexualism for Vermont Public Radio, they bring both clarity to the issue and a new set of changes for everyone involved.


Written with empathy and extraordinary insight, Trans-Sister Radio explores the uncertain terrain of gender identity, sexual preference, and the entire range of pleasures, confusions, and sacrifices that love demands.

The Truth About Delilah Blue A Novel By Tish Cohen
Delilah Blue Lovett has always been a bit of an outsider, ever since her father moved her from Toronto to L.A. when she was eight, claiming Delilah's mother no longer wanted to be part of their family. Twenty now and broke, but determined to be an artist like her errant mom, Delilah attends art class for free—by modeling nude at the front of the room, a decision that lifts the veil from her once insular world. While she struggles to find her talent, her father, her only real companion, is beginning to exhibit telltale signs of early-onset Alzheimer's. And her mother, who Delilah always assumed had selfishly abandoned them, is about to reappear with a young daughter in tow . . . and a secret that will change everything. Delilah no longer knows which parent to trust—the only one she can really rely on is the most broken person of all: herself.




In a new novel as witty, sparkling, and poignant as her acclaimed Inside Out Girl, author Tish Cohen uncovers the humor and heart within the most dysfunctional of families.

Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik

From her sensational sleeper hit Patty Jane's House of Curl to her heartwarming novel Welcome to the Great Mysterious, Landvik has won the hearts of readers everywhere. Now she returns to her beloved, eccentric stomping ground of small-town Minnesota where a most eclectic, and engaging group of women share love, loss, and laughter.
Sometimes life is like a bad waiter -- it serves you exactly what you don't want. The women of Freesia Court have come together at life's table, fully convinced that there is nothing good coffee, delectable desserts, and a strong shoulder can't fix. Laughter is the glue that holds them together -- the foundation of a book group they call AWEB -- Angry Wives Eating Bon Bons -- an unofficial "club" that becomes much more. It becomes a lifeline.
The five women each have a story of their own to tell. There's Faith, the newcomer, a lonely housewife and mother of twins, a woman who harbors a terrible secret that has condemned her to living a lie; big, beautiful Audrey, the resident sex queen who knows that good posture and an attitude can let you get away with anything; Merit, the shy, quiet doctor's wife with the face of an angel and the private hell of an abusive husband; Kari, a thoughtful, wise woman with a wonderful laugh as "deep as Santa Claus's with a cold" who knows the greatest gifts appear after life's fiercest storms; and finally, Slip, activist, adventurer, social changer, a tiny, spitfire of a woman who looks trouble straight in the eye and challenges it to arm wrestle.
Holding on through forty eventful years -- through the swinging Sixties, the turbulent Seventies, the anything-goes Eighties, the nothing's-impossible Nineties -- the women will take the plunge into the chaos that inevitably comes to those with the temerity to be alive and kicking. Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons depicts a special slice of American life, of stay-at-home days and new careers, children and grandchildren, bold beginnings and second chances, in which the power of forgiveness, understanding, and the perfectly timed giggle fit is the CPR that mends broken hearts and shattered dreams.

Corked: A Memoir by Kathryn Borel
Meet Kathryn Borel, bon vivant and undutiful daughter. Now meet her father, Philippe, former chef, eccentric genius, and wine aficionado extraordinaire. Kathryn is like her father in every way but one: she's totally ignorant when it comes to wine. And although Philippe has devoted untold parenting hours to delivering impassioned oenological orations, she has managed to remain unenlightened. But after an accident and a death, Kathryn realizes that by shutting herself off to her father's greatest passion, she will never really know him. Accordingly, she proposes a drunken father-daughter road trip. Corked is the uncensored account of their tour through the great wine regions of France. Uproarious, poignant, painfully introspective, and filled with cunning little details about wine, this is a book for any reader who has sought a connection with a complex family member or wanted to overcome the paralyzing terror of being faced with a restaurant wine list.

PLEASE CAST YOUR VOTE IN THE GADGET AT THE TOP OF THE RIGHT SIDEBAR!
ATTENTION: I have tried several times but it seems that the poll feature is not working! So please just leave a comment with your selection!

If you have a suggestion for September 2010 please leave a comment with the Title and Author and I will add it to my list.

What are you giving away this Thursday? 7/22-28

Some where along the line this giveaway linky seems to have lost it's purpose. It is intended to list ONLY BOOK (cookbooks, audio books, novels, non-fiction, tutorials, references are all good) and BOOK RELATED Giveaways! By book related I mean book marks, book lights, gift cards to book stores, book bags, eReaders and other things related to the hobby of reading! So I am going to start this over fresh!

And I do want to say thank you to the ones who have been using this linky correctly - YOU ROCK!

If you have a BOOK or BOOK RELATED Giveaway please list it below in the Linky. If you have any other sort of giveaway please feel free to post it on my mommy blog - The Busy Woman's Guide to Surviving Motherhood - but NOT HERE!

When using the linky please use this format:

Blog Name (abbr. okay) - Title & Author of Book - # of Winners - End Date

Your Thumbnail should be an image of the book cover

(The End date is very important, so I know when to delete it)

And please leave a comment when you are all done - I like to know who came and saw!

Review: Hurricanes in Paradise by Denise Hildreth

Hurricanes in Paradise by Denise Hildreth


Book Description:

When Riley Sinclair stepped into her new job as director of guest relations at a posh resort on Paradise Island, she felt the final pieces of her once-broken life coming together. But the waters become choppy when Riley discovers that some who come to the Atlantis Hotel are accompanied by paralyzing secrets and overwhelming fears. Riley and three guests are in desperate but unknowing need of each other, eventually forging unlikely yet powerful friendships. With a hurricane headed straight for the island, together they embark on a journey of laughter, heartache, and healing.

About the Author:

I'm a graduate of the University of South Carolina with a degree in Journalism. Had I been wiser I would have waited ten years before I went to college in the hopes of being older and wiser and actually retained some of the things that I learned. Then I would have had ten more years on those student loans finding me too. But they were some of the best years of my life none-the-less.

Eventually the hills of Tennessee won me over and then a tall and striking young man won my heart and Tennessee became home.


Writing has always been a love of mine. For years I wrote for other people and then one day I realized I might want to see what I could create on my own. I figured I knew three things-at least college taught me something-I knew crazy people, the south and a thing or two about rigged beauty pageants. Who knew that would get me a publishing contract and introduce readers to a character I fell in love with and a city that I fell in love with, both named Savannah.


Granted "Goodnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" has been far more successful than my Savannah series, but it doesn't have Amber Topaz Childers anywhere on its pages of that I can assure you!


I can honestly say everyday, I remind myself of the extreme privilege of doing what I love. And every day my mother reminds me that I found the perfect calling in writing fiction because I was so good at telling tales as a child. I'm sure she meant that with all the love of a southern mother who still finds it necessary to sleep in her pearls. You know, "just in case". Never learned "just in case" of what....but I'm sure one day someone will figure out what it is and write a book about it!






Here's What I Think:
This is my first experience with Denise Hildreth, but it will not be my last. She writes in a mystical style that manages to tackle some deep issues without being preachy or overbearing. She speaks beautifly of faith, family and friends but post of all Love. Additionally, there is plenty of comic relief to break up the serious stuff. Each character has a complete and lovable persona - my favorite of which Laine. I will say that a "purist" christian fiction reader might feel that the Christianity is a little too subtle. But this is how I prefer it, not that I don't like reading with religion, but I like it to be realistic and not a long drawn out sermon. I, personally, feel that Hildreth has done a great job telling an entertaining and engaging story with Christian overtones. If you are looking for a great beach read - this is it - just check the weather report before you head out =)!

BUY IT! You can buy your own copy on Amazon

Disclaimer: Although I did receive a copy of this book from Tyndale House Publishers, I was in no other way compensated to write this review.