{Meme} It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Yay! It's November; a month of colder weather (depending on which country you're in), bonfires, camping, falling leaves and, if you're lucky, snow! It's also NaNoWriMo month, so a lot of reading may not be accomplished. Here's what we're trying to get read so far ...

Mandy:

For Review

Where are the Christians? Despite numbering two billion worldwide, this question is being asked with more frequency given the eroding moral state of society. This ground breaking book explores the dynamics of American Christianity offering unique and timeless insights into one of the world's most prevalent religions. Whatever the reader's beliefs, this book will challenge conventional notions and broaden ones understanding of Christianity's past, present and future.

Where are the Christians? uses the classic format of who, what, where and how to explore Christianity and the dynamics that unite and divide the religion into the unrealized potential it suffers from today. The book enlightens the reader as to who the Christians are from a historical perspective; what a Christian is from a spiritual perspective; where the Christians are from a behavioral perspective; and how Christianity can be strengthened and more united from a societal perspective. Where are the Christians? examines hundreds of Biblical and scholarly sources, analyzing data from a multitude of studies and interviews leading to unique perspectives and solutions to the challenges facing Christianity in the modern era.

For Review

Incredibly, more than 3,000 women in the United States military report Military Sexual Trauma (MST) each year. Yet, to date, the military seems unwilling or unable to provide its own woman soldiers with the care they deserve – and unable to prevent these atrocities from occurring in the first place. With The Female Veteran, female military veteran Ty Will tells her own deeply personal account of rape at the hands of her sergeant, and her experience with seeking treatment from a VA ill-equipped to deal with the pervasive issue.

The Female Veteran is a must-read for all veterans and their families – particularly those with a mother, daughter, aunt or sister in the armed forces -- as well as those considering entering the military.

Kathy:

Jess Aarons' greatest ambition is to be the fastest runner in his grade. He's been practicing all summer and can't wait to see his classmates' faces when he beats them all. But on the first day of school, a new girl boldly crosses over to the boys' side and outruns everyone.

That's not a very promising beginning for a friendship, but Jess and Leslie Burke become inseparable. Together they create Terabithia, a magical kingdom in the woods where the two of them reign as king and queen, and their imaginations set the only limits. Then one morning a terrible tragedy occurs. Only when Jess is able to come to grips with this tragedy does he finally understand the strength and courage Leslie has given him.

For 2013 TBR Pile Challenge

In the summer of 1953, two eleven-year-old boys—best friends—are playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire. One of the boys hits a foul ball that kills the other boy's mother. The boy who hits the ball doesn't believe in accidents; Owen Meany believes he is God's instrument. What happens to Owen, after that 1953 foul ball, is extraordinary.

In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, author Stephen R. Covey presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centered approach for solving personal and professional problems. With penetrating insights and pointed anecdotes, Covey reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, service, and human dignity--principles that give us the security to adapt to change and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates.

{Meme} It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Monday, Monday, Monday ... One of the great things about Monday is that we get to share with you what we're reading this week. We also enjoy seeing your comments about what you have planned this week, so leave us one!

Kathy:

Last week, Kathy reviewed The Erlking by Rebecca Yount. Here's what she has going on this week:

For the 2013 TBR Pile Challenge

Charlie is a freshman.

And while he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it.

Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mix tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But he can't stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.

Mandy:

Last week, Mandy was able to review When Hell Came to Texas by Robert Vaughan, Confession by Richard Freis, and Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick. Here's what she has going on this week:

For the 2013 TBR Pile Challenge

Theia Anderson has always led a sheltered life in the small California town of Serendipity Falls. But when a devastatingly handsome boy appears in the halls of her school, Theia knows she's seen Haden before - not around town, but in her dreams.

As the Haden of both the night and the day beckons her closer one moment and pushes her away the next, the only thing Theia knows for sure is that the incredible pull she feels towards him is stronger than her fear.

And when she discovers what Haden truly is, Theia's not sure if she wants to resist him, even if the cost is her soul.

Every 360 days the earth spins counter-clockwise for five days. While this happens, some people sleep and some people fall into a world they never knew existed; a world where they will learn to survive or learn to die.

Seventeen year old Nicky Barrett is one of the fallen. She has woken up in this empty world and has met people from every generation. Some are good and some are pure evil. She will have to try to fit in, though, because, now that she's here, she will never be able to go back home.


All three ladies of Literary R&R (Kathy, Mandy, and Charlene) are reading the book below:

In the small town of Hadlee, Mississippi, during the 1980's, Jason Lee Rainey struggles to find his way amongst the old, steadfast Southern attitudes about race, while his friendship with a black boy, Samson Johnson, deepens.

By way of stories from others, Jason Lee learns about his larger-than-life father, who was killed in Vietnam. He longs to become that sort of man, but doesn't believe he has it in him.

In The Clock of Life he learns lessons from the past, and the realities of inequality. He flourishes with the bond of friendship; endures the pain of senseless death; finds the courage to stand up for what he believes is right; and comes to realize he is his father's son.

This story explores how two unsettling chapters in American history, the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War, affect the fate of a family, a town, and two boyhood friends.

{Meme} It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's that time for everyone to share what they've read last week and what they'll be reading this week. And away we go ...

Kathy:

Last week, we posted reviews from Kathy for Beirut: An Explosive Thriller by Alexander McNabb (for review) and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (for Back to the Classics Challenge).

Here's what she's reading this week:

For thousands of years human beings have dreamed of immortality, of reversing the aging process, of enhancing beauty and retaining the vigor and vitality of youth - forever. In the year 2059 this dream is at last within our grasp. But as biologic engineers finally achieve total control over the fundamental mechanics of life and the ability to change the course of human evolution, will this awesome power alter the meaning of love, the nature of relationships and society, and even the very definition of what it means to be human?

What's Stephanie up to now?

Her Uncle Fred has disappeared. A body turns up in a garbage bag. She's got a nasty bookie following her around town. Grandma Mazur has her hands on the stun gun. Stephanie can't keep a car for more than forty-eight hours. Two men are trying to get her into bed. She has nothing to wear to the Mafia wedding. And there's an angry little man (don't call him a dwarf!) who won't leave her apartment.

It's Easter at Princeton. Seniors are scrambling to finish their theses. And two students, Tom Sullivan and Paul Harris, are a hair's breadth from solving the mysteries of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili - a renowned text attributed to an Italian nobleman, a work that has baffled scholars since its publication in 1499. For Tom, their research has been a link to his family's past - and an obstacle to the woman he loves. For Paul, it has become an obsession, the very reason for living. But as their deadline looms, research has stalled - until a long-lost diary surfaces with a vital clue. And when a fellow researcher is murdered just hours later, Tom and Paul realize that they are not the first to glimpse the Hypnerotomachia's secrets.

Mandy:

Last week we posted one review from Mandy for We Do Not Wrestle with Flesh and Blood by B. R. Smith (for review).

Here's what she's reading this week:

A rare meteorite struck Alex Woods when he was ten years old, leaving scars and marking him for an extraordinary future. The son of a fortune teller, bookish, and an easy target for bullies, Alex hasn't had the easiest childhood.

But when he meets curmudgeonly widower Mr. Peterson, he finds an unlikely friend. Someone who teaches him that you only get one shot at life. That you have to make it count.

{Meme} It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

HHHHHAAAAPPPPPYYYYY MMMMOOONNNDDAAAYYY!!!!

Are you excited about starting another work week?!!

Yeah. Neither are we.

So let's get away from the negative and get to the positive - We're starting new books this week! Below are summaries of the books we're giving a go.

Mandy:

For Review

In the days after the Civil War, a solitary rider travelled the open frontier - but he wasn't alone, for Death seemed to travel with him. Or maybe it was the Devil himself who gave him the lethal pistol shot that earned him the name "Death's Acolyte." And when the stranger with the scarred face, who calls himself Ken Casey, rode into the peaceful Texas town of Wardell, maybe peace - for his own ravaged soul - was all he wanted. But in Wardell, all hell is about to break loose.

Awaiting a train shipment of gold, Angus Pugh and his army of outlaws, including notorious gunslinger Luke Draco, take the town hostage and kill a few innocent citizens as a lesson to any comers. Donning priestly vestments, Ken Casey, ordained man of the cloth, steps from the shadows to conduct the victims' funeral rites - and that's just his first revelation. For Casey can destroy souls as easily as he saves them, and earthly justice is delivered in gun smoke and blood.

For Review

Just because Anny Applebaum qualifies for a senior discount doesn't mean she's ready for retirement. But if she wants to keep her job at the San Francisco Times, she'll have to find a way to spice up her lifestyle column. Even if it means posting her profile as an eligible single on JDate.com. Sure, Anny's a little out of practice. She hasn't been with a man since she found Viagra in her ex-husband's suit pocket, and he wasn't taking it for her. But she's got her friends to help her fumble her way through the strange and intriguing world of online dating.

After hearing cautionary tales from the trenches - about "boomer oldies" who drag around pictures of their dead wives and fixed-income misers who wine and dine their dates at chain restaurants - Anny is relieved to meet Marv Rothstein, a charming ... 75-year-old diamond dealer. Unfortunately, he's also a Digital Age Don Juan who prowls singles sites for younger women. Not to be outdated by this "Serial JDater," Anny realizes Marv is the perfect subject for her flagging column and chronicles his sexcapades for the reading public. But when the new column becomes an overnight hit, Anny can't help but feel conflicted - because now she's having sex with Mr. X ... and it's nothing less than extraordinary.

For Review

In this one-of-a-kind collection of Reader's Digest's best military pieces, you'll meet ordinary people faced with extraordinary circumstances in the name of America and freedom. People such as Staff Sergeant Jeff Sarver, whose mission day after day was to get it right the first time or die as he and his team disarmed hundreds of improvised explosive devices in Iraq; and Colonel Greg Gadson, a double amputee whose inspirational message of courage, perseverance, and teamwork helped lead the then-struggling Giants to a Super Bowl victory in 2007. These articles remind us of all those in uniform who go above and beyond the call of duty, including the 1000-man crew of the USS Point Cruz who cared for an abandoned infant in Korea until his adoption in the United States, and the Green Beret who risked his life to save a dying Afghan girl.

For the 2013 TBR Pile Challenge

As the Inquisition spread its fiery fingers across the land of Spain, holding kingdom and king in its terrible grip, a new horror would rise to challenge even the invincible power of the Grand Inquisitor. A curse on the house of King Alonzo that came from the very Devil.

A curse that would leave his daughter unfit to marry or rule. A curse that would transform his only legitimate son, Rolon, into the very Hound of Hell, whose unspeakable secret bloomed under the full moon of a country where terror came in mother's milk and vengeance roamed abroad. Rolon, the chosen, the damned. Rolon, the kind, blessed with a compassionate soul and a great and tragic love; cursed by a secret plague sent by Lucifer Himself. Rolon, Heir to the Throne of Spain, who dared to defy the Inquisition in the ungodly raiment of The Godforsaken.

Kathy:

For Review

Michel Freij is poised to become the next president of Lebanon. The billionaire businessman's calls for a new, strong regional role for the country take on a sinister note when European intelligence reveals Freij has bought two ageing Soviet nuclear warheads from a German arms dealer.

Maverick British intelligence officer Gerald Lynch has to find the warheads, believed to be on board super-yacht the Arabian Princess, before they can reach Lebanon. Joined by Nathalie Durand, the leader of a French online intelligence team, Lynch is pitched into a deadly clash with Freij and his violent militia as he pursues the Arabian Princess across the Mediterranean.

The partners at Finley & Figg - all two of them - often refer to themselves as "a boutique law firm." Boutique, as in chic, selective, and prosperous. They are, of course, none of these things. What they are is a two-bit operation always in search of their big break, ambulance chasers who've been in the trenches much too long making way too little. Their specialties, so to speak, are quickie divorces and DUIs, with the occasional jackpot of an actual car wreck thrown in. After twenty plus years together, Oscar Finley and Wally Figg bicker like an old married couple but somehow continue to scratch out a half-decent living from their seedy bungalow offices in southwest Chicago.

An then change comes their way. More accurately, it stumbles in. David Zinc, a young but already burned-out attorney, walks away from his fast-track career at a fancy downtown firm, goes on a serious bender, and finds himself literally at the doorstep of our boutique firm. Once David sobers up and comes to grips with the fact that he's suddenly unemployed, any job - even one with Finley & Figg - looks okay to him.

With their new associate on board, F&F is ready to tackle a really big case, a case that could make the partners rich without requiring them to actually practice much law. An extremely popular drug, Krayoxx, the number one cholesterol reducer for the dangerously overweight, produced by Varrick Labs, a giant pharmaceutical company with annual sales of $25 billion, has recently come under fire after several patients taking it have suffered heart attacks. Wally smells money.

A little online research confirms Wally's suspicions - a huge plaintiffs' firm in Florida is putting together a class action suit against Varrick. All Finley & Figg has to do is find a handful of people who have had heart attacks while taking Krayoxx, convince them to become clients, join the class action, and ride along to fame and fortune. With any luck, they won't even have to enter a courtroom!

It almost seems too good to be true.

And it is.

In the aftermath of a colossal battle, new threats are emerging from every direction.

Tyrion Lannister, having killed his father, and wrongfully accused of killing his nephew, King Joffrey, has escaped from King's Landing with a price on his head.

To the north lies the great Wall of ice and stone - a structure only as strong as those guarding it. Eddard Stark's bastard son Jon Snow has been elected the 998th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, but he has enemies both in the Watch and beyond the Wall. And in the east Daenerys Targaryen struggles to hold a city built on dreams and dust.

{Meme} It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Happy Monday, everyone!!! =)

We hope that your week is starting off wonderfully and that you have a book or two you're enjoying. Below is a list of books that Kathy, Charlene and Mandy are currently reading.

Enjoy!

Charlene:

For Review

What happens when a bright young man's promising future is tragically derailed at the age of eighteen?

Thirty-five-year-old James Milligan, the solitary and impenetrable chief architect at one of Chicago's leading design firms, has never recovered from the gruesome death of his best friend nearly two decades before. He's learned that a distant heart is the only way to shut out the nagging guilt and pain that threatens to capsize him at any moment. Only the dying veterans at the Aaron Milligan Palliative Care Center know the depth of the overwhelming compassion that James harbors within himself, and he is determined never to let anyone else into his heart - or his future - again. However, when caring and patient palliative care nurse Rebecca Doyle enters his world, his hardened exterior begins to crack against his will.

Will Martin Diggs, the charismatic and perplexing Vietnam War veteran convince James that it's not too late to reclaim his future?

Kathy:

For Back to the Classics Reading Challenge

Here is the world's most famous master plan for seizing and holding power. Astonishing in its candor The Prince even today remains a disturbingly realistic and prophetic work on what it takes to be a prince ... a king ... a president. When, in 1512, Machiavelli was removed from his post in his beloved Florence, he resolved to set down a treatise on leadership that was practical, not idealistic. In The Prince he envisioned would be unencumbered by ordinary ethical and moral values; his prince would be man and beast, fox and lion. Today, this small sixteenth-century masterpiece has become essential reading for every student of government, and is the ultimate book on power politics.

Just For Fun

Princeton. Good Friday, 1999. On the eve of graduation, two friends are a hairsbreadth from solving the mysteries of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, a Renaissance text that has baffled scholars for centuries. Famous for its hypnotic power over those who study it, the five-hundred-year-old Hypnerotomachia may finally reveal its secrets - to Tom Sullivan, whose father was obsessed with the book, and Paul Harris, whose future depends on it.

As the deadline looms, research has stalled - until a vital clue is unearthed: a long-lost diary that may prove to be the key to deciphering the ancient text. But when a longtime student of the book is murdered just hours later, a chilling cycle of deaths and revelations begins - one that will force Tom and Paul into a fiery drama, spun from a book whose power and meaning have long been misunderstood.

Just For Fun

In Pam Houston's critically acclaimed collection of strong, shrewd, and very funny stories, we meet smart women who are looking for the love of a good man, and men who are wild and hard to pin down. Our heroines are part daredevil, part philosopher, all acute observers of the nuances of modern romance. They go where their cowboys go, they meet cowboys who don't look the part - and they have staunch friends who give them advice when the going gets rough.

For Review

Calidon Dannik has been in love with Alynde, the daughter of Horgeond's most powerful Baron, since he was 10 years old. Now, Cal's father schemes to win her hand for Henrick, Cal's older brother. Unable to accept his father's decision, Calidon resorts to intrigue to win Alynde for himself. The aspiring Knight soon finds himself enmeshed in elaborate plots that extend far beyond the confines of his homeland.

His adventure takes him from his father's Barony to the vast dwarf warrens of Nidafall and finally to the fabulous City of Selinger - whose Prince has struggled for decades to bring the warring Barons under his sway. Cal must accept the destructive nature of knighthood before he can help Prince Keldrin thwart the corrupt powers that yearn to dominate Horgeond.

Mandy:

Review For Book Blog Tour

The name Doc Holliday conjures images of the Wild West and the shootout at the OK Corral, but before he was a Western legend he was a Southern son, born in the last days of the Old South with family links to the author of Gone with the Wind. Now this amazing story is told for the first time in a trilogy of novels entitled Southern Son: The Saga of Doc Holliday. The story begins with Inheritance, set during the turbulent times of the American Civil War, as young John Henry Holliday welcomes home his heroic father and learns a terrible secret about his beloved mother. Inheritance is the first novel in an epic tale of heroes and villains, dreams lost and found, families broken and reconciled, of sin and recompense and the redeeming power of love.

For Review

One of the greatest novels of small-town American life, Appointment in Samarra is John O'Hara's crowning achievement. In December 1930, just before Christmas, the Gibbsville, Pennsylvania, social circuit is electrified with parties and dances. At the center of the social elite stand Julian and Caroline English. But in one rash moment born inside a highball glass, Julian breaks with polite society and begins a rapid descent toward self-destruction.

Brimming with wealth and privilege, jealousy and infidelity, O'Hara's iconic first novel is an unflinching look at the dark side of the American dream - and a lasting testament to the keen social intelligence of a major American writer.

{Meme} It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Happy Monday everyone! We hope you've been enjoying the nicer weather that (most) everyone has been experiencing.

For this week's meme post, here's what we're up to reading-wise:

Kathy is currently reading White Girl Problems by Babe Walker for her book club's April selection, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon for the 2013 TBR Pile Challenge, and she's re-reading The Tears of Min Brock by J.E. Lowder for review per the author's request (changes were made).

All of the books Mandy is reading are for review. They are Glow by Jessica Maria Tuccelli, A Cast of Stones by Patrick W. Carr, and Protocol 7 by Armen Gharabegian.

Below are some brief descriptions of each novel in case you're interested.

Babe Walker, center of the universe, is a painstakingly manicured white girl with an expensive smoothie habit, a proclivity for Louboutins, a mysterious mother she's never met, and approximately 50 bajillion Twitter followers. But her "problems" have landed her in shopping rehab - that's what happens when you spend $246,893.50 in one afternoon at Barneys. Now she's decided to write her memoir, revealing the gut-wrenching hurdles she's had to overcome in order to be perfect in every way, every day.

A young escape artist and budding magician named Joe Kavalier arrives on the doorstep of his cousin, Sammy Clay. While the long shadow of Hitler falls across Europe, America is happily in thrall to the Golden Age of comic books, and in a distant corner of Brooklyn, Sammy is looking for a way to cash in on the craze. He finds the ideal partner in the aloof, artistically gifted Joe, and together they embark on an adventure that takes them deep into the heart of Manhattan, and the heart of old-fashioned American ambition.

Dark and brooding, Tears of Min Brock follows a young girl of 14 summers, named Elabea, who hears a whisper calling her to the shining land of Claire; a kingdom that was supposedly destroyed in the devastating Dark War. Outcast from her family and village, with her childhood friend, Galadin, her only companion, Elabea sets out on an epic quest to become one of the most powerful beings in the world - a storyteller.
 

Shot through with Cherokee lore and hoodoo conjuring, Glow transports us from Washington, D.C., on the brink of World War II to the Blue Ridge frontier of 1836, from the parlors of antebellum manses to the plantation kitchens where girls are raised by women who stand in as mothers. As the land with all its promises and turmoil passes from one generation to the next, Ella's ancestral home turns from safe haven to mayhem and back again.

In the backwater village of Callowford, Errol Stone's search for a drink is interrupted by a church messenger who arrives with urgent missives for the hermit priest in the hills. Desperate for coin, Errol volunteers to deliver them but soon finds himself hunted by deadly assassins. Forced to flee with the priest and a small band of travelers, Errol soon learns he's joined a quest that could change the fate of his kingdom.

2039: Simon Fitzpatrick, a brilliant Oxford professor, grieves over the recent and mysterious death of his father Oliver, who has disappeared in Antartica. An unexpected friend from Simon's past appears on his doorstep with an encrypted message from Oliver, leading him to believe his father may still be alive. Simon soon embarks on a mission which takes him half way around the world in search of his Father. A recent quarantine of Antartica by the United Nations makes his journey almost impossible and dangerous. Through his perilous journey to find his Father, Simon uncovers a conspiracy beyond his imagination; a revelation of global consequence and one of the greatest secrets ever kept.

{Meme} It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Well, hello there Literary peeps!

We apologize for being a little absent on this meme. Mandy was focusing on reading and reviewing books for the January 2013 Winter Wonderland Spell Challenge. Unfortunately, she didn't meet her goals of 16 books. If she would've read a little faster a little sooner she probably would've made it. Ah well ... things happen. =)

There are two books that Mandy's going to try and finish up this week: Demon's Curse by Alexa Egan (review should post tomorrow) and Angelina's Bachelor's by Brian O'Reilly (review should post Wednesday). Both were books she was trying to finish last week for the January 2013 Winter Wonderland Spell Challenge. As soon as she finishes those, she'll begin reading Fires of Alexandria by Thomas K. Carpenter.

Kathy is still working her way through A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin and Mindfront by Dave Becker. She has started reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot and Good Harbor by Anita Diamant.

One of the mythical race of shape-shifting Imnada and a member of an elite military unit, Captain Mac Flannery suffers under a ruthless curse. As the result of a savage massacre on the eve of Waterloo, he and the men he served with are forced to live the hours of darkness trapped as their animal aspects. Now one of them has been murdered, and Mac suspects the existence of the Imnada may finally have been discovered. His only link to unearthing the truth - Bianca Parrino, the beautiful actress whom every man desires.

Forging a new life for herself after escaping the clutches of her abusive husband, Bianca is again drawn into violence when a dear friend is brutally murdered and she becomes a suspect. Forced to place her trust and her life in Mac's hands as they flee a determined killer, Bianca cannot deny she is falling for the mysterious soldier. But will his dark secrets tear them asunder? Or will love be the key to breaking even the cruelest of spells?

Far too young to be a widow, Angelina D'Angelo suddenly finds herself facing a life without her beloved husband, Frank. Late one night shortly after the funeral, she makes her way down to the kitchen and pours all of her grief and anger into the only outlet she has left - her passion for cooking. In a frenzy of concentration and swift precision, she builds layer upon layer of thick, rich lasagna, braids loaves of yeasty bread, roasts plump herb-rubbed chicken; she makes so much food that she winds up delivering the spoils to the neighbors in her tight-knit Italian community in South Philadelphia.

Retiree Basil Cupertino, who has just moved in with his kindly sister across the street, is positively smitten with Angelina's food. In a stroke of good fortune, Basil offers Angelina (not only husbandless but unemployed) a job cooking for him - two meals a day, six days a week, in exchange for a handsome salary. Soon, word of her irresistible culinary prowess spreads and she finds herself cooking for seven bachelors - and in the process discovers the magical power of food to heal, to bring people together ... and maybe even to provide a second chance at love.

The greatest mystery of the ancient world remains the identity of who set fire to the Great Library in Alexandria. One hundred years later, Heron of Alexandria - the city's most renown inventor and creator of Temple miracles - receives coin from a mysterious patron to investigate the crime. Desperate to be free of the debts incurred by her twin brother, she accepts and sets in motion a chain of events that will shake the Roman Empire and change the course of history forever.

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells - taken without her knowledge - became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first "immortal" human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they'd weigh more than 50 million metric tons - as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb's effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.

Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.

Good Harbor is the long stretch of Cape Ann beach where two women friends walk and talk, sharing their personal histories and learning life's lessons from each other. Kathleen Levine, a longtime resident of Gloucester, Massachusetts, is maternal and steady, a devoted children's librarian, a convert to Judaism, and mother to two grown sons. When her serene life is thrown into turmoil by a diagnosis of breast cancer at fifty-nine, painful past secrets emerge and she desperately needs a friend. Forty-two-year-old Joyce Tabachnik is a sharp-witted freelance writer who is also at a fragile point in her life. She's come to Gloucester to follow her literary aspirations, but realizes that her husband and young daughter are becoming increasingly distant. Together, Kathleen and Joyce forge a once-in-a-lifetime bond and help each other to confront scars left by old emotional wounds.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Hi everyone!

It's the beginning of another work week and, depending on your view, that's either good or bad. It's good for Mandy as she's not heading back to work until Wednesday morning! (*woot woot*) For those that have the work-Monday blues, we hope it gets better for you.

Last week, Mandy finished reading Well With My Soul by Gregory G. Allen and began reading A Searing Wind by W. Michael Gear & Kathleen O'Neal Gear. She also began reading Love in Disguise by Carol Cox and Ghost Town by Jason Hawes & Grant Wilson, the stars from the SyFy channel's series Ghost Hunters, which she finished and will have her review posted on here Wednesday. Come back and check it out!

As for Kathy, she is still reading Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin and When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris. She did finish reading This Jealous Earth by Scott Dominic Carpenter and her review posted on here yesterday (scroll down to check it out!).

Although she's still reading two books from last week, she has begun to read The Woman from Paris by Santa Montefiore (for a book blog tour), Mindfront by Dave Becker (for review) and Much Ado About Nothing by Williams Shakespeare (for the 2013 Back to the Classics reading challenge).

Did you meet your reading goals last week? What are your reading goals for this week?

When costume-maker Ellie Moore suddenly finds herself out of a job in the middle of a bleak Chicago winter, she uses her knowledge of theatrical disguise to secure a position as an undercover operative with the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Her assignment: find the culprit behind the theft of silver shipped from the mines near Pickford, Arizona.

Disguised as Lavinia Stewart, a middle-aged widow, Ellie begins her investigation. Soon she finds she must also pose as the dazzling young Jessie Monroe, whose vivacious personality encourages people to talk.

Mine owner Steven Pierce is about to lose his business after the theft of several bullion shipments - until hope arrives in the unlikely form of Lavinia Stewart, who offers to invest in Steven's mine. In his wildest dreams, Steven never expected to be rescued by an inquisitive gray-haired widow ... or to fall head over heels for Lavinia's captivating niece, Jessie.

But then the thieves come after both Lavinia and Jessie. Ellie isn't safe no matter which character she plays! Will she be forced to reveal her true identity before the criminals are caught? What will Steven do when he discovers the woman he loves doesn't exist?

When Lord Frampton dies in a skiing accident, a beautiful young woman named Phaedra appears at his funeral - claiming to be the lord's illegitimate daughter. In his will, Lord Frampton has left the priceless Frampton suite of sapphires to this interloper, confirming her claim and outraging his three adult sons and widow. Eventually, however, Phaedra's sweet nature thaws the frosty relationships. She becomes the daughter that Antoinette Frampton never had and a wise and compassionate granddaughter to the formidable Dowager Lady Frampton. But an attraction grows between Phaedra and the eldest son, David. It seems an impossible love - blocked by their blood connection and by the fury of one family member who is determined to expose Phaedra as a fraud.

After uncovering a universal code in the brain waves of all living things that could revolutionize psychology, Martin Keller wakes one morning to find himself covered in blood, surrounded by his butchered family. Convinced he's being framed by a diabolical organization set on stealing or sabotaging his work, he dodges a multi-agency manhunt that pursues him from the seediest corners of DC to the highest offices of government. Struggling to stay alive and find his family's killer, Marty soon finds himself lost in a maze of conspiracies and paranoia, and eventually begins to doubt his own sanity. How can he find the truth when he doesn't know what's real?