April's Reading Challenge Winner

So apparently Blogger hates me this is the 4th time I have tried to write this post and neither time would it let me post it so here is hoping that today is the day that it will work. The winner for April's Reading Challenge is Susan @ Avid Series Reader. Susan has won Books one and two in the Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley! Congratulations Susan I have emailed you, normally I wait to I have it posted online before emailing but I decided not to take a chance this time in case this post does not post, lol!

Thanks 

Amy

May's Mystery/Crime Reading Challenge Link-Up Post

Wow I cannot believe it is May already, my girls only have a month of school left before summer vacation will be upon us, and we are already in month 5 of our little reading challenge! I am still awed by all of your reads and find new books to read every month just by looking at the previous month's link-up list, so keep them coming. 

I will announce April's winner tomorrow and make sure to link-up all your reads for another chance to win in June!

Amy

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Book Tour: there was an old woman by Hallie Ephron

Synopsis:

There Was An Old Woman by Hallie Ephron is a compelling novel of psychological suspense in which a young woman becomes entangled in a terrifying web of deception and madness involving an elderly neighbor. When Evie Ferrante learns that her mother has been hospitalized, she finds her mother's house in chaos. Sorting through her mother's belongings, Evie discovers objects that don't quite belong there, and begins to raise questions. Evie renews a friendship with Mina, an elderly neighbor who might know more about her mother's recent activities, but Mina is having her own set of problems: Her nephew Brian is trying to persuade her to move to a senior care community. As Evie investigates her mother's actions, a darker story of deception and madness involving Mina emerges. In There Was an Old Woman, award-winning mystery author Hallie Ephron delivers another work of domestic noir with truly unforgettable characters that will keep you riveted.

My Review:

There was an old woman by Hallie Ephron takes a look into how deep someone is willing to go for revenge. A little slower paced action wise then what I am used to but I did enjoy its stimulating prose that makes the mind work instead of just providing endless action and dramatization for only entertainments sake. I give it, , 3 out of 5 Nerds.

Author Bio:

An award-winning mystery reviewer, Hallie Ephron is the author of Never Tell a Lie (a Mary Higgins Clark Award finalist that was also made into the Lifetime Movie Network film And Baby Will Fall) and the Edgar- and Anthony Award-nominated Writing and Selling Your Mystery. Ephron lives near Boston.

Websites & Links:

Thank you to Harper Collins, Hallie Ephron and Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for generously offering this book to me for review. If you'd like to join in on an upcoming tour just stop by their sites and sign up today!

Catching Up...

I am feeling much much better since the last time I posted anything, it was one of those colds that linger and right when you think you are getting better boom your sick again! Don't you just hate those types of colds? So there is a lot to share but I am going to keep it short; 

First up is that tomorrow is the last day to post your reads for The Mystery/Crime Reading Challenge for the month of April, so if you have reads to link up please do this by tomorrow night at 11:59 p.m. EST. I will announce the winner of April's drawing for two mystery/crime books off of my own bookshelves on May the 2nd.

Secondly I wanted to show you all some pictures of a recent swap we had over at my swap group, Altered Paper Swaps & Challenges, the swap was to make paper dresses, here are the ones that I received from my swap partner Mercedes @ All Things Pretty:

They are all so lovely Mercedes thank you so much!

I had a tough time with coming up with my dresses it seemed like being sick just sucked every inch of creativity out of me, but I finally did get inspired, here are the dresses I made Mercedes:

This dress is made with a piece of patterned paper that had rulers on it and then I constructed the skirt out of sewing pattern paper and then added some gold ribbon with a cute little scissors button to finish it off.

This is the ball gown, I embossed some black cardstock and then added layers of folded red crepe paper to make the bottom portion of the dress. Finished it off with a sparkly red jewel.

I love the way the text is on this dress, it is to remind everyone to dream and to laugh.

I have my first book review in awhile posting tomorrow so please make sure to check it out!

Thanks

Amy

March's Reading Challenge Winner

Sorry I didn't post the winner yesterday as promised I had a bunch of errands to run and the day was over to fast. So here goes the winner of Private London by James Patterson and In Cold Blood by Truman Capote is Lori @ Escape with Dollycas Into A Good Book. Lori I will be sending you an email to get your address. Thanks to everyone that participated in the challenge in March.

Amy

April's Mystery/Crime Reading Challenge Link-up Post

Wow, so here we are ready to get into month four of our reading challenge and even though we have already hit a few bumps I am so grateful that we all are still in it for the long haul! I will use the random number generator tomorrow to pick a winner who will receive two books from my own bookshelves, the books are Private London by James Patterson and In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, so check back tomorrow to see who won and without further ado here is your linky tool to link up all your reads for April.

Thanks for participating

Amy

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Book Review: Defiant Heart by Marty Steere

 Title: Defiant Heart
By: Marty Steere
Published: 2013
Published by: Penfield Publications
Pages: 386
ISBN: 978-0-9854014-3-6
Rating: (5 out of 5 nerds)


Summary from Goodreads:

Two extraordinary characters. One unforgettable love story.
In the spring of 1941, young Jon Meyer’s family dies in a tragic accident, and he is sent to live in a small Indiana town. He arrives to find himself unwanted and shunned.
Mary Dahlgren is the mayor’s daughter. A pretty girl, she could have the pick of the boys in town, including Vernon King, the star of the vaunted high school basketball team. To the chagrin of her friends, though, Mary has always been more interested in books than boys. That is, until she meets Jon.
But Jon and Mary are kept apart through the efforts of Mary’s father, who perceives their relationship a threat to his political aspirations, and Vernon, to whom Jon is a rival for Mary’s affections. For months Jon is subjected to a painful ostracism. Then, just when the young man’s earnestness and perseverance begin to win over many of the townsfolk, and it appears that love may conquer all, tragedy strikes.
As the country is caught up in war, so too are the young lovers swept up in events beyond their control, leaving both fighting for their very lives. If, against the odds, they are to be together, each will need to find the strength, the courage and the resourcefulness that beat only in a defiant heart.

My Review:
Love, well at least the kind that really counts, is not easy to get or to keep a hold of for that matter, but once you have that kind of love it endures.
I love a good love story and I gobbled up Defiant Heart in one sitting, with a whole bag of Doritos and three Jello Chocolate Pudding packs,  because I just had to find out what would become of Mary and Jon’s love. Would it be able to overcome so many obstacles? Or would life throw one to many curve balls at our young couple?
I don’t plan on writing to much about it because I don’t want to give to much away for I feel that would just ruin it for all of you but I will say this Defiant Heart is a must read for all of us out there that love drama and romance; if my copy was not an e-book but was instead a hard copy I would have placed it right along side of my favorites, such as Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, and Rebecca, on my keep forever bookshelf. You can find Defiant Heart on Amazon on April the 5th for its soft release in E-book format, it also will be available in paperback on April the 15th which you can also find on Amazon, so mark your calendars you will not regret it.
Amy

February's Winner...

So I have been extremely down lately and have pretty much ignored everything that I did not consider essential, like my blog, I know it sounds horrible but here I am back and hopefully better then ever! I know that most of you that participate in the reading challenge that I host know that I lost our gift card sponsors but I still want to have a giveaway each month so I am going to give away a mystery/crime/thriller from my own bookshelf. So here goes the winner of two Agatha Christie novels (N or M? and The Mousetrap) is Deb over @ Mysteries in the Woods. Deb I will be sending you an email to get your mailing information so that I can mail your prizes out to you.

A huge thank you to all of you that are still participating!

Amy