And the winner is...

Wow - 2 whole entries! I'm amazed.  Oh well, here is the deal.  I'm giving Kallan odd numbers since she commented first and Suzanne even numbers.  I'm now going over to random.org dice roller application and selecting 1 die.

And Suzanne is the winner.  Kallan I have the copy I read for the review that I will be happy to mail you as a consolation prize.  :)  Send me your mailing addresses ladies and thank you for commenting!

Review & Giveaway - Skipping a Beat

Skipping a Beat
by Sarah Pekkanen

Julia has been with Michael since she was 16 back in the small West Virginia town they both grew up in.  Her father with a major gambling problem that destroyed her family and Michael with a father that ignored the horrible teasing and beatings he received from his brothers.  No surprise his mother felt the need to leave that man.  So they both have their childhood trauma they want to forget, and a strong desire to get away from that town.

She is a successful party planner in DC and he is the multi-millionaire owner of an organic drink company.  They live in a house that she didn’t decorate, go to parties that she can’t stand and just float through life.  In fact, she is so miserable that she carries around a divorce attorney’s card.  Then she gets a call – Michael is in the  hospital and he had been revived after being dead for over 4 minutes.

Being dead changed Michael completely and changed the unspoken rules of their marriage.  He fights to win back his wife, and fully sees the man he had become – much to his shame.  They sort out a few HUGE misunderstandings…but can she forgive him for what he was and accept him as he is?

This is Sarah Pekkanen’s 2^nd novel and she has a writing style where there is one central character that you really get to know, and then all the other characters that orbit around her.  Julia is our center, she has her husband Michael, her father and mother (whom she never sees), her quirky best friend Isabelle, a strange boy she meets in the park and his even stranger dog, and the evil lawyer for her husband’s company.  Ok, maybe not evil but…no he’s evil…Dale.  I love this style because you really get to know Julia so well, you root for her, cry with her, cry FOR her and even yell at her.  It really pulls you in because it mimics real life.  We are all the center of our own stories.

As I said earlier, this is Sarah Pekkanen’s 2^nd novel.  She also wrote The Opposite of Me (which I also recommend).  She lives in Maryland with her husband and 3 boys, and is (according to her book jacket) a writer for Bethesda Magazine.  You can find her on Facebook and at her own website www.sarahpekkanen.com.  You must go read her bio at her webpage...it's a hoot!

Now lucky readers - since BookSparksPR (part of Simon & Schuster) accidentally sent me 2 copies, I have a giveaway open for 1 copy of this book.

For the first entry you must be a follower of this blog (if it's with GFC please use your alias, as I can't figure out how to get the e-mail to show up) and leave a comment..

Extra Entries:

• Tweet about this giveaway (1 entry per day - that's a total of 3 times you can get this one)
• Blog about this giveaway (1 extra entry per person)
• Invite friends to follow this blog (have friend leave a comment that you referred them - 1 entry per referral, unlimited entries)
• A bonus 2 entries - grab my button and add to your blog (if you have already done this you can still get the bonus just leave a link) - leave a link to your blog as a comment. 

And since I am the one sending it, I will leave it open to international shipping.  Now start entering! Almost forgot - I will do the drawing at 7:00 pm EST Thursday March 3, 2011.

A big thank you to Sarah Pekkanen for the story and BookSparksPR for the books.

(I received a free review copy and have written this review as an entry in the Simon & Schuster Sweepstakes, the review is my own opinion and no payment was received)

Sunday Stealing: The Seven Deadly Sins Meme (Plus the CSNstores winner!)

Cheers to all of us thieves!

1 - Pride. Seven great things about yourself.

• the color of my eyes
• I learned to read when I was 3
• I can understand most of what my 2 yr old says to me.
• I am very loyal
• Great listener - swear I give that off in pheromones.
• I make a mean blackened chicken
• I'm really good at something that's a secret.  ;-)

2 - Envy. Seven things you lack and covet.

• Pink netbook
• smartphone with all the bells & whistles turned on
• The Medieval Sims
• Audi station wagon
• a nice house with 3 bedrooms
• a job at CMU
• nice furniture

3 - Wrath. Seven things that piss you off.

• people who don't use their turn signals
• people who cut me off...or anyone off - ok stupid driving in general
• pee on the bathroom floor
• mouse poop...anywhere
• Henry disappearing on his bathroom break
• people expecting me to remind them to give me information once a month...because they are far too busy to remember (and apparently I have nothing better to do than track down the entire church once a month!)
• people thinking the minute they aren't happy they can screw up everyone's lives while they go off to chase some stupid sh** that won't make them happy anyway!!!  Leaving the rest of us to clean up their mess.

4 - Sloth. Seven things you neglect to do.

• Clean the floors
• Clean the bathroom
• Wipe down the stove
• vacuum (altho not having a working vacuum helps in this area)
• laundry (only as long as I can before husband starts complaining about not having underwear)
• dusting
• finishing craft projects

5 - Greed. Seven worldly material desires.

• money
• job
• house
• car (altho I do like the car I have now, one always wants something newer)
• computer gadgets
• new tvs
• cell phone

6 - Gluttony. Seven guilty pleasures.

• chocolate
• The Young & the Restless
• Mojitos
• Black & Blue burger @ mountain Town
• Mountain Town Cookie @ Mountain Town (chocolate chip cookie baked in little cast iron pan, covered in hot fudge and topped with ice cream)
• Pizza Sam's pizza
• Abba

7 - Lust. Seven love secrets. - sorry, skipping this one.  If I tell my secrets they aren't secrets anymore, and these ones are between me and my husband.  ;-)

Thank you for making it all the way through that - and the winner is...Tim - check your inbox.


Thanks everyone - this was a very successful run - and a big welcome to all my new followers.

And a HUGE thank you to CSNstores.com for supplying the $65 gift code and hosting this giveaway.