Book Winner Announced

Congratulations go to Naida for winning a copy of I Can See You, by Karen Rose.

Naida...I have your address, so I will forward it to Hachette. Let me know if it has changed though ok? Wisteria

Book Giveaways!

Wow!!! Three Contests at Once!!

Drawing for all three on August 31st.

I have 5 copies of The Lost Dog by Michelle de Kretser to raffle off. The same rules apply for all the previous Hachette contests.

Summary from Hachette Website:

Tom Loxley, an Indian-Australian professor, is less concerned with finishing his book on Henry James than with finding his dog, who is lost in the Australian bush. Joining his daily hunt is Nelly Zhang, an artist whose husband disappeared mysteriously years before Tom met her. Although Nelly helps him search for his beloved pet, Tom isn't sure if he should trust this new friend.
Tom has preoccupations other than his book and Nelly and his missing dog, mainly concerning his mother, who is suffering from the various indignities of old age. He is constantly drawn from the cerebral to the primitive--by his mother's infirmities, as well as by Nelly's attractions. THE LOST DOG makes brilliant use of the conventions of suspense and atmosphere while leading us to see anew the ever-present conflicts between our bodies and our minds, the present and the past, the primal and the civilized.

1. Please leave your email address in the post.
2. Leave a comment on the blog post. If you leave your name on this post, please say which book you are interested in winning.
Just a little note....If you leave a comment on the other links you will have other chances. LOL
3. Follow my blog.
4. Post about these contest on your blog and link to mine and you will get two extra chances. Please include the link for me.

Good luck.

Contest #2

The Blue Star by Tony Early

Contest #3

I Can See You by Karen Rose


The deadline to enter is August 31st, 6:00PM EST. All winners will be notified via email and then posted on the blog.

Book Giveaway-The Blue Star,by Tony Earley

ENTER TODAY FOR A CHANCE TO WIN!

5 Copies of The Blue Star by Tony Earley will be raffled off. Good luck everyone!!

THE BLUE STAR
By Tony Earley
286 pages. Little, Brown & Company. $23.99.

The Summary from Hachette's Site

Seven years ago, readers everywhere fell in love with Jim Glass, the precocious ten-year-old at the heart of Tony Earley's bestseller Jim the Boy. Now a teenager, Jim returns in another tender and wise story of young love on the eve of World War Two.

Jim Glass has fallen in love, as only a teenage boy can fall in love, with his classmate Chrissie Steppe. Unfortunately, Chrissie is Bucky Bucklaw's girlfriend, and Bucky has joined the Navy on the eve of war. Jim vows to win Chrissie's heart in his absence, but the war makes high school less than a safe haven, and gives a young man's emotions a grown man's gravity. With the uncanny insight into the well-intentioned heart that made Jim the Boy a favorite novel for thousands of readers, Tony Earley has fashioned another nuanced and unforgettable portrait of America in another time--making it again even realer than our own day.

This is a timeless and moving story of discovery, loss and growing up, proving why Tony Earley's writing "radiates with a largeness of heart" (Esquire).



About the Author: (from the Hachette website)

Tony Earley is the author of Jim the Boy, Here We Are in Paradise, and Somehow Form a Family. He lives with his family in Nashville, TN, where he is the Samuel Milton Fleming Associate Professor of English at Vanderbilt University.








Rules:
1. Follow my site on Google..One chance.
2. Make a comment on this site..Once chance.
3. Blog about the contest on your site with my blog and link back. Once chance.
4. Drawing will be on August 31st. Make sure you leave your email address so that I may contact the winners.

As usual, books will be mailed directly to the winners from Hachette. So, please leave an email contact in your comment, so that I may contact you for further information.
The contest is open to US residence who have a regular mail address. ( No PO Boxes are allowed. )

Book Giveaway-I Can See You by Karen Rose

Three copies of I Can See You
will be raffled off at midnight on August 14th. You must be a resident of the US, no PO boxes please.

To enter the contest, please make sure you are a follower on my blog,(1 chance),post a comment on this post with your email (1 chance), mention this contest on your blog and link back to me, (1 chance).



The winners will be notified via email and on this blog, so make sure I can contact you. Books will be mailed directly to the winners from the Hachette Book Group. Thanks to Hachette for sponsoring this contest.

Summary from the book jacket....

Eve Wilson's face was once scarred by a vicious assault. Terrified and ashamed, she escaped to the online realm, where she could choose the face she allowed people to see. Years later, her outer scars faded and inner scars buried, Eve has fought her way back to the real world and is determined to help others do the same. .....Karen Rose delivers her latest pulse-pounding suspense novel, where the line between the virtual world and everyday reality blurs when it comes to murder.

Good luck to everyone!!

Congratulations to Winners of Off Season

Congratulations!!! Woo Hoo!!
The following people won a copy of Off Season by Anne Rivers Siddons.






Jill from Rhapsody in Books
Carol M.
Diane from The Book Resort
Debbie from Debs Desk
Kara T.

Thank you all for sending me your addresses so quickly. I have forwarded them to The Hachette Group. You will be receiving your book directly from them shortly.
Thanks to The Hachette Group and Valerie Russo for providing the books for this giveaway.

Thanks to everyone for participating and keep your eyes open for the next book contest.

...Second Chance Raffle

Great News!!! I have two copies of to raffle off. Everyone is talking about this phenomenal book. Here is your second chance. You have until July 12th midnight to enter. The contest is open to residents of the U.S. and Hachette is unable to ship to a PO Box.

In order to win, please leave a comment on this post and add your name to my Google follow widget on my sidebar. Easy enough right? Good luck!!!

Winners!!!! You Won a Copy of The Link!!!

The following people won a copy of The Link.

Ti from Book Chatter and other stuff.
Literary Feline from Musings from a Bookish Kitty
Anita Yancey
Naida from the Bookworm
sjlewis39 from Sailing Leeward

CONGRATULATIONS EVERYONE!! I can't wait to hear those reviews.

As soon as you send me your mailing address, I will forward it to the Hachette Group. You will receive your book directly from them. Again...Congrats and thanks for participating. I hope you enjoy the book.

My email is on my website, however to make it easier:
tekeygirl at gmail dot com

Book Raffle-Off Season by Anne Rivers Siddons

Yippee! Another book raffle thanks to the Hachette Group and Valerie Russo.





Information from the publisher:

Acclaimed novelist Anne Rivers Siddons's new novel is a stunning tale of love and loss.

For as long as she can remember, they were Cam and Lilly--happily married, totally in love with each other, parents of a beautiful family, and partners in life. Then, after decades of marriage, it ended as every great love story does...in loss. After Cam's death, Lilly takes a lone road trip to her and Cam's favorite spot on the remote coast of Maine, the place where they fell in love over and over again, where their ghosts still dance. There, she looks hard to her past--to a first love that ended in tragedy; to falling in love with Cam; to a marriage filled with exuberance, sheer life, and safety-- to try to figure out her future.

It is a journey begun with tender memories and culminating in a revelation that will make Lilly re-evaluate everything she thought was true about her husband and her marriage.

As in the past, five copies will be given away. If you are not a follower of my blog please join us. Hachette cannot ship to PO boxes and the contest is limited to US residents only. The contest will run till July 19th at 1:00AM. I will announce the winners on my Sunday Salon July 19th. Winners need to contact me via my email address with their snail mail address in order for Hachette to distribute the winning copies.

Please leave a comment about what makes you think you would like to read this book.
Here are a couple of links to check out.

Author Interview:
Author Website
Hachette Group

What's the Buzz About The Link

What's the Buzz About??? Win one of 5 copies to be given away!!!! (see details below)

The Link
Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor
by Colin Tudge, Josh Young



With exclusive access to the first scientists to study her, the award-winning science writer Colin Tudge tells the history of Ida and her place in the world. A magnificent, cutting-edge scientific detective story followed her discovery, and The Link offers a wide-ranging investigation into Ida and our earliest origins. At the same time, it opens a stunningly evocative window into our past and changes what we know about primate evolution and, ultimately, our own. (From Hachette Site)




May 19, 2009, NEW YORK, NY—Scientists have announced today the discovery of a 47-
million-year-old human ancestor. Discovered in the Messel Pit, Germany, the fossil is twentytimes older than most fossils that explain human evolution. Known as “Ida,” the fossil is atransitional species, showing characteristics of the very primitive nonhuman evolutionary line(prosimians, such as lemurs), but even more closely those of the human evolutionary line(anthropoids, such as monkeys, apes, and humans). This places Ida at the very root of anthropoidevolution—when primates were first developing the features that would evolve into our own.

The scientists’ findings are published today by PLoS One, the open-access journal of the Public Library of Science.

Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, will publish THE LINK,
by Colin Tudge, on Wednesday, May 20, 2009. The book will reveal in full detail the entire story of the discovery, excavation, and preservation, and the revolutionary significance ofIda. THE LINK begins with a foreword by Norwegian fossil scientist Dr.Jørn Hurum ofthe University of Oslo’s Natural History Museum, who for the past two years has led an international team of scientists as they secretly conducted a detailed forensic analysis of the extraordinary fossil, studying the data to decode humankind’s ancient origins. At 95 percent complete, Ida is set to revolutionize our understanding of human evolution.

Unlike Lucy and other famous primate fossils found in Africa’s Cradle of Mankind, Ida is a European fossil, preserved in Germany’s Messel Pit, a mile-wide crater whose oil-rich shale is a significant site for fossils of the Eocene Epoch. Fossil analysis reveals that the prehistoric primate was a young female. Opposable big toes and nails rather than claws confirm that the
fossil is a primate, and the presence of a talus bone in the foot links Ida directly to humans. The fossil also features the complete soft body outline as well as the gut contents. A herbivore, Ida feasted on fruits, seeds, and leaves. X-rays reveal both baby and adult teeth, and the lack of a “toothcomb,” which is an attribute of lemurs. The scientists estimate Ida’s age when she died to be approximately nine months, and she measured approximately two feet in length.

 Ida lived 47 million years ago, at a critical period in the Earth’s history. Her life fell within the Eocene Epoch, a time when the blueprints for modern mammals were being established. After dinosaurs became extinct, early horses, bats, whales, and many other creatures, including the first primates, thrived on a subtropical planet. The Earth was just beginning to take the shape that we know and recognize today—the Himalayas were being formed and modern flora and fauna were evolving. Land mammals, including primates, lived amid vast jungles.

 Ida was found to be lacking two of the key anatomical features found in lemurs: a grooming claw on the second digit of the foot, and a fused row of teeth in the middle of her lower jaw, known as a toothcomb. She has nails rather than the claws typical of non-anthropoid primates such as lemurs, and her teeth are similar to those of monkeys. Her forward-facing eyes are like ours—which would have enabled her fields of vision to overlap, allowing 3-D vision and an ability to judge distance.

 The fossil’s hands show a humanlike opposable thumb. Like all primates, Ida has five fingerson each hand. Her opposable thumb would have provided a precision grip. In Ida’s case, this would have been useful for climbing and gathering fruit; in our case, it allows important human functions such as making tools and writing. Ida also would have had flexible arms, which would have allowed her to use both hands for any task that cannot be done with one—like grabbing a piece of fruit.

 Evidence of a talus bone links Ida to us. The bone has the same shape as it does in humans today, though the human talus is obviously bigger. Extensive X-rays, CT scanning, and computer tomography reveal Ida to have been about nine months old when she died and provide clues to her diet, which included berries and plants. Furthermore, the lack of a bacculum (penis bone) means that the fossil was definitely female.

 X-rays reveal that a broken wrist may have contributed to Ida’s death—her left wrist was healing from a bad fracture. The scientists believe she was overcome by carbon dioxide gas while she was drinking from the Messel Lake; the still waters of the lake were often covered with a low-lying blanket of the gas as a result of the volcanic forces that formed the lake and were still active. Hampered by her broken wrist, Ida slipped into unconsciousness, was washed into the lake, and sank to the bottom, where the unique conditions preserved her for 47 million years.

The above excerpt can be found as a pdf document on the Hachette Group Site.

If you are still as curious as I was, you can visit Revealing the Link to find more information, including an audio reading from the book. ENJOY! I am so excited about this book and I hope you will be too. here is a picture of the fossil of IDA.




Contest Rules:


Five books will be raffled off in a random drawing. The contest will end at 7:00PM on June 30th. You must have have a US address and no PO Box to win. Celebrate with me again and win a copy of Testimony. Yippee!!! All you have to do is make sure you are following my blog and leave a comment. The comment must include why you want to read this book to satisfy my curiosity. Good luck to everyone. :)

Sunday Salon-Looking for Winners!

Good morning everyone. I hope you are enjoying your weekend and the weather is great too!

My reading this week has been mostly devoted to my Civil War grad course. I'm plodding through Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson. This is a comprehensive and lengthy non-fiction book, considered to be one of the best general studies of the Civil War.


I have to say it does read more like a novel than a fact by fact discourse. The size is daunting at 900+ pages, but one would expect no less with this complex subject. McPherson won the Pulitzer Prize for this book, so if you are looking for a book to learn more about the Civil War, try Battle Cry of Freedom.

Winners of Testimony-I need addresses from you.

The following bloggers won a copy of Testimony, but I have not received your address.
They are:
Naida: (I probably had yours once, but don't anymore)
The Book Resort
liana 66
Tiffany 819
Anita Yancey

Winners of Born in the USA I also need your addresses.
Carlene-----I have yours
The Book Resort
scottsgal
jemscot 425
Brooke

Please send your address to the email address on my blog so that I can have Hachette send you our book. :) If you don't want the book any longer, would you please let me know? I want to make sure you get your book, but I will have to chose other winners after June 13th if I don't here from you. Thanks....Wisteria

With summer's sun trying to peak past spring's rain, many of us are getting ready for a time of summer reading fun. I know I can't wait! Where is your special reading place? Do you have a special time to read? What books are you looking forward to reading this summer? Let me know what you are reading.

Have a great week!

Testimony by Anita Shreve-Book Giveaway

Wow!! Another book giveaway.

Complements of the Hachette Group, I am hosting another book raffle. This time you have a chance to win a copy of Testimony, by Anita Shreve. I am such a fan of her writing and I know there are many of you that are as well. If you have never read any of her books, now is your chance to win one.

This is the promotional summary from the Hachette Group website:

At a New England boarding school, a sex scandal is about to break. Even more shocking than the sexual acts themselves is the fact that they were caught on videotape. A Pandora's box of revelations, the tape triggers a chorus of voices--those of the men, women, teenagers, and parents involved in the scandal--that details the ways in which lives can be derailed or destroyed in one foolish moment.

Writing with a pace and intensity surpassing even her own greatest work, Anita Shreve delivers in TESTIMONY a gripping emotional drama with the impact of a thriller. No one more compellingly explores the dark impulses that sway the lives of seeming innocents, the needs and fears that drive ordinary men and women into intolerable dilemmas, and the ways in which our best intentions can lead to our worst transgressions.

Contest Rules:

Five books will be raffled off in a random drawing. The contest will end at 7:00PM on May 25th...my birthday. You must have have a US address and no PO Box to win. Celebrate with me again and win a copy of Testimony. Yippee!!! All you have to do is make sure you are following my blog and leave a comment. The comment must include why you want to read this book to satisfy my curiosity. Good luck to everyone. :)

Contest for Billie Letts' Made in the USA

The contest for Made in the USA by Billie Letts will end the same day. Please sign up on that post if you are interested in winning one of the five copies being raffled off.

Good Luck Wisteria