No Chatting!

LoriPed offers one of two choices:

First Choice:



Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
BC link

Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?
Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.
Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?
Second Choice:



Lake With No Name
BC link

Diane Wei liang, creator of the mei Wang literary mystery series, brings us a tale as spellbinding as any she could invent: her own love story, intertwined with the dramatic history of modern china, including the international trauma of tiananmen square.

• Shedding a new light on history: Liang fled Tiananmen Square in June 1989 and returned to Beijing six years later in an attempt to find her sweetheart, from whom she had been separated once the troops rolled in. With her graceful, confident voice, Liang is the perfect author to shine a light on this moment in history, telling her true, dramatic story at a time when the world’s eyes are focused once again on China.

• The real-life drama behind the mysteries: Liang drew deeply from her life story in creating the protagonist of her novels: mei Wang is a female private investigator who has been living in Beijing since before the violent clash around Tiananmen Square. readers will be intrigued by how mei’s life reflects and differs from the author’s own turbulent experience in China.

• International phenomenon: rights for The Eye of Jade have been sold in twenty-two countries. Lake With No Name was published in the u.K. in 2003. This will be the first time that American readers will have access to Diane Wei Liang’s memoir.

• Timely and engaging: China is already the new world superpower. ms. Wei Liang’s novels have given readers an opportunity to learn about Chinese culture at a time when curiosity about China is at fever pitch.

dancing-dog's reveal:



End of Summer by Eric Michael Moberg

Book Description
The strongest person in the history of humanity happens to be a fourteen-year-old Filipina in South San Francisco, California, and her name is Imelda Corazon SantaMaria. This is the story of a girl who wants to be a woman, a woman who loves, a woman who loves a young man named Rogelio. Rogelio has a problem though: testicular cancer. To make matters worse, Rogelio’s mother has recently converted from Catholicism to become a Jehovahs Witness and forbids modern medical treatment, insisting on prayer instead. What does Rogelio want? Just a girl he can trust. What does Imelda want in return? Rogelios love, oh, and to no longer be a virgin on the first day of high school, six days after the opening of the story. Did I mention the abortion in chapter two, the stabbing in chapter four, the abduction (sort of) in chapter seven, the three-car pile-up in chapter nine, the psychiatric ward in chapter eleven, or whether or not Imelda gets her man in the end?
My Thoughts
I am currently about half way through this book and enjoying it. Rather quirky, fun, light and full of surprises, I like the characters of Imelda and Rogelio.

Elsi's reveal:

Description:

The first book in the Book Retreat Mystery series

Tucked away in the rolling hills of rural western Virginia is the storybook resort of Storyton Hall, catering to book lovers who want to get away from it all. To increase her number of bookings, resort manager Jane Steward has decided to host a Murder and Mayhem week so that fans of the mystery genre can gather together for some role-playing and fantasy crime solving.

But when the winner of the scavenger hunt, Felix Hampden, is found dead in the Mystery Suite, and the valuable book he won as his prize is missing, Jane realizes one of her guests is an actual murderer. Amid a resort full of fake detectives, Jane is bound and determined to find a real-life killer. There's no room for error as Jane tries to unlock this mystery before another vacancy opens up...


Note: I will send an eBook or paperback to the winner, just let me know which format you would like.

Amber's Reveal


Plantation Shudders by Ellen Byron



First in a series!


It's the end of the summer and Prodigal Daughter Maggie Crozat has returned home to her family's plantation-turned-bed-and-breakfast in Louisiana. The Crozats have an inn full of guests for the local food festival--elderly honeymooners, the Cajun Cuties, a mysterious stranger from Texas, a couple of hipster lovebirds, and a trio of Georgia frat boys. But when the elderly couple keels over dead within minutes of each other--one from very unnatural causes-- Maggie and the others suddenly become suspects in a murder.

With the help of Bo Durand, the town's handsome new detective, Maggie must investigate to clear her name while holding the family business together at the same time. And the deeper she digs, the more she wonders: are all of the guests really there for a vacation or do they have ulterior motives? Decades-old secrets and stunning revelations abound in Ellen Byron's charming cozy debut, Plantation Shudders.

My Review


I will send a copy via Bookdepository or Kindle if the winner prefers.

Azuki's reveal:


Making Piece: A Memoir of Love, Loss and Pie
by Beth M. Howard



(ok, what comes to mind for pies? For me, it's berry pies of the summer, apple and pumpkin pie of the fall...)

"You will find my story is a lot like pie, a strawberry-rhubarb pie. It's bitter. It's messy. It's got some sweetness, too. Sometimes the ingredients get added in the wrong order, but it has substance, it will warm your insides, and even though it isn't perfect, it still turns out okay in the end."

When journalist Beth M. Howard's young husband dies suddenly, ("I killed my husband. I asked for a divorce, and seven hours before he was to sign the divorce papers, he died." - so began the book) she packs up the RV he left behind and hits the American highways. At every stop along the way—whether filming a documentary or handing out free slices on the streets of Los Angeles—Beth uses pie as a way to find purpose. It's a journey of healing and recovery, of facing fears, finding meaning in life again, and moving forward with purpose and, eventually, joy. It's about the nourishment of the heart and soul that comes from the simple act of giving to others, like baking a homemade pie and sharing it with someone whose pain is even greater than your own. And it tells of the role of fate, second chances and the strength found in community.

OR


Tides of Autumn
by Pamela Johnson



http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/7551841

Darci Cunningham is still grieving the loss of her husband of twenty-two years and trying to start a new life on Mackinac Island. The island was also part of the dream that she had shared with her husband Matt - having discovered the island's charm on their honeymoon so many years before. With grown children in college, she was alone but for the presence of her delightful cousin Maevey, renowned matchmaker of Mackinac island.

Tyler Landston comes to Mackinack Island to capture images of its residents for the publication of a coffee table art book. Accustomed to moving around the world, Tyler has never had a desire to settle in one place. With a little help from Maevey and a couple of fateful accidents Tyler and Darci would soon become better acquainted.

BooksnBeer's Reveal

(I choose this one because I don't want summer to end)



One of the funniest mystery writers today is Carl Hiaason. In his latest, Nature Girl, he provides us with his usual fare--a hilariously funny story but with a message. While not as powerful as some of his previous work, Nature Girl is still an entertaining book.

Nature Girl is Honey Santana, a female version of Twilly Spreey (who Hiaason featured in Sick Puppy). Santana is divorced, raising a precocious 12 year old son Fry, and apparently suffers from bi-polar disorder. Santana's husband, Skinner, still loves his former wife and tries to run interference for her. She is known to do outrageous things "trying to demand more decency and consideration from her fellow human beings." When a hapless telephone solicitor, Boyd Shreave, interrupts her dinner time with her son and then calls her a rude name, Santana hatches a plot to teach Shreave some civility.

Santana lures Boyd and his girlfriend to the Florida wilderness and Ten Thousand Islands. Little does she know that the cast of characters that will encounter on Dismal Key. They include Sammy Tigertail (a Seminole Indian trying to hide out from the law and who hears the voices of a dead man), Gillian LaCroix (a college co-ed who wants to be taken hostage by Tigertail), Eugenie Fonda (Shreave's reluctant girlfriend), Theordore Dealey (a PI who has been hired by Shreave's wife to get incriminating photos), and Louis Piejack (an obnoxious sexual predator stalking Santana). As Dealey observes, "I wish I hadn't taken this god-damned case--I've never run up against so many card-carrying fruitballs in all my life." It's a cast that only Hiaason could produce.

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/13614876

HoserLauren's Reveal


The Swimmer by Joakim Zander

A deep-cover CIA agent races across Europe to save the daughter he never knew in this electrifying debut thriller—an international sensation billed as “Homeland meets Stieg Larsson” that heralds the arrival of a new master sure to follow in the footsteps of Stieg Larsson, John Le Carré, and Graham Greene.

In the end, you cannot hide who you are.

Klara Walldéen was raised by her grandparents on a remote archipelago in the Baltic Sea, learning to fish and hunt and sail a boat through a storm. Now, as an EU Parliament aide in Brussels, she is learning how to navigate the treacherous currents of international politics: the lines between friend and enemy, truth and lies.

But Klara has accidentally seen something she shouldn’t have: a laptop containing information so sensitive that someone will kill to keep hidden. Suddenly, she is thrown into a terrifying chase across Europe, with no idea who is hunting her or why.

Meanwhile, in Virginia, an old spy hides from his past. Once, he was a man of action, an operative so dedicated that he abandoned his infant daughter to keep his cover. Now, he is the only man who can save Klara . . . and she is the only woman who can allow him to lay old ghosts to rest.

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/13164845

KathyB's Reveal:
Book Depository, E-book or Audible

Ages 10+

Zach, Poppy, and Alice have been friends forever. And for almost as long, they have been playing one continuous, ever-changing game of pirates and thieves, mermaids and warriors. Ruling over all is the Great Queen, a bone-china doll cursing those who displease her.

But they are in middle school now. Zach's father pushes him to give up make-believe, and Zach quits the game. Their friendship might be over, until Poppy declares she's been having dreams about the Queen - and the ghost of a girl who will not rest until the bone-china doll is buried in her empty grave.

Zach and Alice and Poppy set off on one last adventure to lay the Queen's ghost to rest. But nothing goes according to plan, and as their adventure turns into an epic journey, creepy things begin to happen. Is the doll just a doll or something more sinister? And if there really is a ghost, will it let them go now that it has them in its clutches?

Doll Bones is a winner of the Newbery Honor Award.