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Please join Joanna Hershon, author of A Dual Inheritance, as she tours the blogosphere with TLC Book Tours. Enter to win a copy below – open to US only. Reviewed by Jax Kepple Spanning the course of fifty years, A Dual Inheritance covers jealousy, wealth, love, longing, family and friendship as it affects the lives of first Ed Cantowitz and Hugh Shipley, and then their daughters Rebecca and Vivi. Author Joanna Hershon sets up the story right at the moment Ed and Hugh meet, and the story progresses chronologically through the ups and downs of their lives in the early 1970s, and then switches over to the entwined lives of their daughters, who meet at boarding school and bring the story up to present day. When Ed and Hugh meet at Harvard while they are undergrads, they quickly become friends; the perfect compliments to each other. Hugh comes from old money, and his future is planned out for him but he can’t deny that deep down he wants to do more with his life. So he goes to Africa to start medical clinics and along the way marries his high school sweetheart, Helen. Ed has always resented and is extremely jealous of old wealth and how Hugh always has had everything given to him so easily, and decides to do whatever it takes to achieve immense wealth. After going to Helen’s parents’ house for a weekend getaway, Ed meets Helen’s father, who offers him a summer job and Ed begins his high profile career on Wall Street. After a chance encounter with Helen before she is due to leave for Africa, Ed becomes very bitter about everything and cuts Hugh and Helen off. He winds up marrying another motivated, high achieving woman, Jill, and together they become a New York City power couple. Vivi and Rebecca’s story is not as intense until after an existential crisis that leads Rebecca to quit her job and break up with her boyfriend. Suddenly, Rebecca finds herself in Africa alone with Hugh and has an epiphany. I felt as though Vivi’s character was a tad underdeveloped, and she was clearly the least likable out of everyone, even though Hugh and Ed do some very questionable things. I liked how, while Rebecca and Vivi both portrayed aspects of their fathers, they were able to get past it and form a lasting friendship. I truly enjoyed Hershon’s writing style – she is able to convey what each character is thinking and their motivations without being too simplistic. The story was a bit unpredictable but had a satisfying ending, after each character has gone through the ringer, personally and professionally. The result is a rich, layered story about how life is imperfect but it’s important to keep those you care about close. Rating: ★★★★½ Jax is in an accountant at a hedge fund. She resides in NYC with her husband. Review and giveaway copies were provided free of any obligation by Ballantine Books. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received. a Rafflecopter giveaway Pin It

Title: The Hazards of Skinny Dipping (Goodreads) Publisher: Self-Published Source: Inkslinger PR Publication Date: 21 May 2013 Series or Standalone: Standalone ISBN: 9781484044179 Format: ebook (ARC) Pages: 305 The Author on the Web: Alyssa Rose Ivy - Official Site Alyssa Rose Ivy - Blog Alyssa Rose Ivy - Twitter Place(s) Traveled to: Kiawah, South Carolina // Charleston, South Carolina // Savannah, Georgia // West Ashley, South Carolina Rating: 3 out of 5 stars First Line: Skinny dipping was the last thing on my list. I had a really hard time getting into The Hazards of Skinny Dipping by Alyssa Rose Ivy and this made me sad as I really enjoyed her Clayton Falls series. I just couldn't connect with the main character, Juliet, who flitted between a TSTL character to one that just needed a b!tch slap as she was so annoying. The dialogue in the early part of the book was also off putting as it was stilted and read more as an early draft of a first novel and not by an experienced author. There were several times when I was ready to just give up on this one but I kept with it since I am part of her Release Day Blitz and Blog Tour. While the beginning of the book may not of thrilled me there was this shift in tone and writing somewhere in the middle and I became invested in the story. I liked Juliet a little better though she's still not my favorite character in the book. I also would have liked to see a bit more from her friends, Cara and Mallory, and even her roommate but maybe those stories will be told in future books that Alyssa Rose Ivy writes. After all, to be part of a series is more the norm than a stand alone book these days. Another thing I liked is that the character that Juliet obsessed over was far from perfect. Not only was he your typical douche love interest character. You know the one, the guy that the MC seems to love and yet the reader knows is bad news and keeps mentally telling the character so? Well, that is Dylan. But he's popular and handsome and just seems to have everything only the thing that you think would be super wonderful is far from it. Juliet is then torn between living her dream and dealing with the harsh realities of the world. Then there are two other boys who also like Juliet and while both have cookie cutter good guy potential they too exhibit flaws that help to humanize them. As a reader, you are torn at times between these two but you know in the end that there is only one choice. For me, this book was made with the last half of the story. There was tension, drama, and even a few heart achy moments. And you know how much I love my heart achy moments! While Hazards of Skinny Dipping had a rocky start for me I did enjoy how it ended. I'm glad that I decided not to DNF this one because then I would have missed some fun moments in this story. If I could cut out or revise the first part of the book I would as the second half was just so much better in every way. The writing and the dialogue all just seemed to pop more. Skinny Dipping is flawed in places but I don't feel like my time was wasted with the read, or at least, it wasn't once I got into the story. a Rafflecopter giveaway The Hazards of Skinny Dipping This isn't a deep book about first loves or self-discovery. If you want a book like that, I'd be happy to recommend one, but I don't have that kind of story to tell. Instead my story is about rash decisions and finding out that your dream guy is bad in bed. It's the story of when I finally went skinny dipping, and how my life was never the same again. Oh, and it's also the story of my freshman year of college and realizing Mr. Right might have been there all along. Author Bio: Alyssa Rose Ivy is a New Adult and Young Adult author who loves to weave stories with romance and a southern setting. Although raised in the New York area, she fell in love with the South after mo

Got water? Oops - Lu stole it. Sorry.

Top Tuesday Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish! Top Ten Book Covers I Love (from books I’ve read) Related Posts: No Related Posts 3 comment(s) for this post: Melissa @ Harley Bear Book Blog: 21 May 2013 I have My Life Next Door on my list too. It just looks like the perfect summer read doesn't it! Great list! Alice @ Alice in Readerland: 21 May 2013 I love the new cover for Keeping the Moon, it's so pretty! :) My TTT list: http://aliceinreaderland.com/2013/05/20/bookcovers/ Alice @ Alice in Readerland Kristin: 21 May 2013 All beautiful covers! I love all over Sarah Dessen's new covers! Write a quick commentThe post Top Ten Tuesday: Book Covers I Love appeared first on Chick Loves Lit.

Well, I thought that I was ready to jump back into blogging and reviewing again, but I have discovered that I am not. I have in the past few weeks contemplated setting the blog aside permanently, which has never crossed my mind before. Honestly, the idea of walking away from the blog is incredibly appealing right now. It’s not like I’m going to stop reading, but I just am not in a place where I am willing to put in the work needed to write and post reviews at this point in time.Rather than make a rash decision though, I have decided to take a break for the summer and then re-evaluate in the fall.In the meantime, I need to find someone who is interested in taking over hosting the Saturday Snapshot series. If no one is interested in hosting it then I will shut it down until further notice as well.If you want to keep up with me this summer I might be posting occasional updates on Facebook, Twitter and/or Goodreads.© 2013, At Home With Books. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, May 28: Introductions and/or ClassicsWe kick off the week by starting with introductions of ourselves. Last year, we changed things up by having everyone answer questions from a pre-determined list. It was such a hit, that we are doing it again. The questions and more information will be posted in the weeks leading up to the event, so you can plan accordingly.Credit: SalonOur first genre discussion will revolve around classic literature. Ideas for discussion include a list of your favorite classics, books you would recommend to a non-classic believer, or even what draws you to keep reading those classics over and over again!Wednesday, May 29: Blogger Development and/or Genre FictionDay 2 we talk about how we develop ourselves as bloggers. Have you branched out into your community? Do you partner with other bloggers? Have you gone "pro" or begun supplementing your income through your blog? Are you a long-term blogger, and how has your online personality developed over the years? These are simply ideas. Think development and tell us what comes to mind.The book-ish focus will be genre fiction. What draws you to a specific genre? Do vampires, zombies, or witches float your boat? Or, do you prefer the heat of romance? Recommend your favorite genres and/or books and help build reader TBR shelves a bit more!Thursday, May 30: Giveaways and/or Literature We take a break from official discussions on Thursday to allow participants to hop around the web and enter blogger-hosted giveaways! Start planning your giveaway now!The genre of discussion is general literary fiction. Which works of art have changed your life? Be creative and make a list outlining books featuring specific subjects (i.e., animals, recommended prize-winners, outstanding authors, etc.).Friday, May 31: Ethics and/or Non-FictionWe get back into discussions on Friday with the heavy topic of ethics. Do you have recommendations to new bloggers to ensure credit is given to whom/where credit is due? Have you had an experience with plagiarism? How did you deal with it? What are the guidelines as bloggers that we must follow?We bridge the genre gap from fiction to all things non-fiction. Do you read non-fiction? Why or why not? Is there a specific type of non-fiction that you prefer to read (i.e., historical, true crime, memoirs, biographies, etc.)? What is the perfect book for a first-time non-fiction reader?Saturday, June 1: Keeping it Real and/or Children's/Young Adult LiteratureWhat exactly does "keeping it real" mean? The meaning lays in keeping. How do you not only grow an audience, but how do you keep them coming back for more? If you have been around for years, how do you keep your material fresh? How do you continue to keep blogging fun?Our final genre focuses on the younger crowd: children's picture books and young adult literature and everything in between. What are the top 5 (or more) books that every child should have on his shelf? If you are an adult who reads YA, why do you keep going back for more? If you are not a reader of these books, think back to your childhood and share your favorites from your younger years.Sunday, June 2: Armchair BEA Wrap-UpOn this final day, we encourage you to wrap-up the week with your favorites and highlights of the week. Did you learn something new? Did you connect with a new-to-you blogger? What was your favorite discussion topic? Do you have ideas for future years? You can write your own blog post and link it up, but we also encourage you to take our end-of-event survey.If you are interested, click here for Armchair BEA registration. If you wonder who else is doing this, click here for the list of participants for 2013. According to the comments here, they'll publish questions on the Armchair BEA blog "prior to the week of the event."

WELCOME TO BOOKIN' WITH BINGO'S" ARE YOU LISTENING? DAY" I AM EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE TODAY'S AUDIO BOOK CHOICE.... THE WOMAN UPSTAIRS BY CLAIRE MESSUD Read by Cassandra CampbellABOUT THE BOOK:Nora Eldridge, an elementary school teacher in Cambridge, Massachusetts, long ago compromised her dream to be a successful artist, mother and lover. She has instead become the “woman upstairs,” a reliable friend and neighbor always on the fringe of others’ achievements. Then into her life arrives the glamorous and cosmopolitan Shahids—her new student Reza Shahid, a child who enchants as if from a fairy tale, and his parents: Skandar, a dashing Lebanese professor who has come to Boston for a fellowship at Harvard, and Sirena, an effortlessly alluring Italian artist. When Reza is attacked by schoolyard bullies, Nora is drawn deep into the complex world of the Shahid family; she finds herself falling in love with them, separately and together. Nora’s happiness explodes her boundaries, and she discovers in herself an unprecedented ferocity—one that puts her beliefs and her sense of self at stake. Told with urgency, intimacy and piercing emotion, this brilliant novel of passion and artistic fulfillment explores the intensity, thrill—and the devastating cost—of embracing an authentic life. ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Claire Messud’s most recent novel, The Emperor’s Children, was a New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post Best Book of the Year. Her first novel, When the World Was Steady, and her book of novellas, The Hunters, were both finalists for the PEN/Faulkner Award; and her second novel, The Last Life, was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year and Editor’s Choice at The Village Voice. All four books were named New York Times Notable Books of the Year. Messud has been awarded Guggenheim and Radcliffe Fellowships and the Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her husband and children. PRAISE FOR THE WOMAN UPSTAIRS:“Riveting . . . Messud is adept at evoking complex psychological territory, and here favors a controlled and notably unreliable style of narration. She is interested in the identities that women construct for themselves, and in the maddening chasm that often divides intensity of aspiration from reality of achievement.” —The New Yorker“[A] powerful psychological thriller . . . As in a fairy tale, Nora becomes spellbound by a family that seems to embody what she is missing. The power of self-deception is one of the key themes. . . . This is not just a novel of real psychological insight. It is also a supremely well-crafted page-turner with a shocker of an ending.” —Julia M. Klein, The Boston Globe “Thrums with fury . . . Startling: a psychological and intellectual thriller.” —Los Angeles Times “Tightly focused and intensely first-person . . . Nora storms onto the page in a fury to tell us the story of a few months that changed her life. . . . The stage is set for a terrible betrayal, and the ending delivers it. The writing in this book is on fire, and the connections it makes—a Chekhov short story, a Larkin poem, Alice in Wonderland—pop like intellectual fireworks from the page.” —Marion Winik, Newsday“Exhilarating . . . Messud’s previous novels, extraordinarily intelligent and well-crafted, are characterized by rationed or distant emotion. [But] The Woman Upstairs is utterly different—its language urgent, its conflicts outsize and unmooring, its mood incendiary. This psychologically charged story feels like a liberation. Messud’s prose grabs the reader by the collar . . . Reading Nora’s turbulent testament of belief and betrayal, you feel less like a spectator than a witness. . . . In this ingenious, disquieting novel, Messud has assembled an intricate puzzle of self-belief and self-doubt, showing the peril of seeking your own image in someone else’s distorted mirror—or even, sometimes, in your own.” —Lies

Hey, blog folks and readers that happen upon me for Googling random crap like "bosoms" and "hot latin men". I have something totally awesome to share with you today. Remember Tom Ryan? He participated in LGBTQ Voice last year and was a great sport when I interviewed him and reviewed his debut novel, which was a coming out story with a Canadian twist. I know, he was pretty awesome, which is why I'm excited to help him feature the cover for his next novel, Tag Along. Tag Along features four different character PoVs, including one for an LGBTQ character, and it all centers around junior prom. Three other blogs - plus Tom's and my own - will be featuring chapters of the book and giveaways to go along with the cover reveal. First, a little bit about Tag Along (taken from the synopsis): It’s junior prom night. Andrea is grounded, Paul is having panic attacks, Roemi has been stood up, and Candace is trying to avoid one particular cop. Over the course of eight eventful hours, paths are crossed, plans are changed, messages are mixed, and four near strangers form some unlikely bonds. Now, for the cover and the chapter reveal. Ta-da!! What do y'all think? I think it's awesome, myself. The purple, the photographs - it screams like a fun novel full of comedic antics. What goes better with this kind of cover than Roemi's first chapter in the book? Roemi Worst. Prom. Ever. Okay, so you are not going to believe any of this. I had a date. To the prom. A prom date. And this boy is hot to trot, fire and brimstone, one sexy little Abercrombie & Fitch-style love interest deluxe. John. Hot John. I met him online, and he’s totally sweet and really cool, and he obviously has good taste in men. We hit it off immediately. I was all sup and he was all nahmuch, you? and before you know it, we’re texting, like, all the time! And not dirty stuff (okay, not just dirty stuff--ahem), but mostly just shit like whatcha doin? and just watchin the Kardashians and eatin’ cereal. Shit like that. Cute, right? All right, so there might have been a couple of minor roadblocks on destiny highway. For one thing, he lives in the city, about a twenty-minute drive away. He’s also hard-core closeted, but that’s cool, because I was closeted for a while too. Like till I was twelve. The thing with John, though, was that he was going to use my prom as his testing ground for coming out. He was worried for a while that if he came to the Granite Ridge prom, he’d end up seeing someone he knew or someone who knew someone or whatever. Closet stress, perfectly natural. Anyway, it took a few weeks, but I totally managed to calm him down and convince him not to be paranoid. At least, I thought I’d convinced him not to be paranoid. So the plan was, I’d get dressed up like America’s Next Top Male Model, and John would take the bus out from the city and come to my house to pick me up, and we’d go to the pre-prom party at Terry Polish’s house and do lots of mingling, and maybe sneak a couple of drinks, and then we’d go to the prom, and there’d be lots of pictures, and he’d meet all my friends, and then there’d be a bunch of fast dancing, and then I’d slip the DJ ten bucks and a jump drive with “Don’t Stop Believing” on it, and John and I would end up stealing the show as the lights dimmed and the crowd parted, and then we’d totally fall in love in the middle of the dance floor, melting into each other’s arms as the disco ball threw crystal spheres of light down on us. Best prom daydream ever, right? Totally! We’d be making history! That’s probably worth explaining. See, John and I were going to be the first gay couple to ever own the dance floor at a Granite Ridge High School prom. And yeah, the operative word here is were. So I’m all tuxed up and looking totally fierce, and I’ve got everything prepared. The lighting is arranged perfectly, my

Title: A Complicated Marriage: My Life with Clement Greenberg Author: Janice Van Horne Publisher: Counterpoint Press Series: None Other Reviews for This Author: None How do you grade someone's life when it's clearly not a memoir, when there's no definite attempt at sending a message or limiting the information given in order to come across as one way or another? Sure, every autobiography leaves things out - we are all our worst critics and our most wily editors - but the autobiography has much less pomp and fiction behind its conception, and this is why I find myself struggling to discuss A Complicated Marriage in a way that is anything but personal. I can't analyze a plot when there is no plot, just a life. A life that has been lived and relived throughout the writing of this book, a life that is certainly unique without coming across as preachy, self-centered, or dull. Janice Van Horne married Clement Greenberg in the 1950's with a twenty-year age difference and a cultural division between them that her family could not stand. He a Jewish-German man in his forties, she a girl fresh out of college in her twenties. Clement wasn't the handsomest man in the room; he smoked and drank casually while conversing freely about art and all of its ups and downs. He saw her at a party and it was all over. Not love at first sight, but interest at first sight. It was that interest that jump started a marriage that would continue past Greenberg's death. Their love lasted through decades; they practiced an open marriage that was a reality of their world, a world where men would occasionally stray for no reason other than necessity, and the women, too, would find themselves in the arms of others. Clement knew from day one that a traditional marriage would be impossible for him. For Janice, a girl raised to be strictly Presbyterian and a model wife (though she couldn't cook worth a damn), this was something to shove aside until the first affair. Marriage then became an adjustment all over again as Janice began to think about her love of Clement and the way that their lives had never fit into the ordinary mold that had been stressed so highly at the time of their marriage. Art was Clement's life. For the first ten years, it was also Janice's. She had no place until she she had a child and explored a life outside of Clement's, a life that was about coexisting without collaborating at every moment. There were acting classes and trunked scripts of plays that would be performed throughout the years to crowds of all sizes, garnering receptions ranging from glowing to scathing. There were trips to the houses of the great artists and their various partners - each painting a study as Clement was asked for his honest opinion. Janice looked on, living and absorbing but never becoming starstruck, devoted, fanatical about the world of art and its dysfunctional, erratic family. I didn't anticipate that I would be reading an autobiography, but I'm amazed at how interested I was in Janice's life as a whole. She starts where most love stories start - the time she first meets Clement, the love of her life. She spends the first half of the book describing the life she began with Clem and all of the good and bad that went with it; moving in to a tiny but workable apartment, getting wrapped up in the art world, suffering through amazing (and awful) excursions to see different artist friends. David Smith to Jackson Pollock. It's a tapestry of sights and sounds. Whirlwind emotions are reduced to paper and ink as Janice chronicles those days in great detail. The reader gets to know Clem as the kind of man that is romantic in his everyday life, but not in his actions or his direct words. He is precision over generalities, always taking the time to choose precise words for things he wishes to say. Janice is not the only woman he will ever have sex with or have a relationship with, but he always tells her that

Reviewed by Colleen Turner His Majesty’s Hope, the third book in Susan Elia MacNeal’s Maggie Hope mystery series, begins with our favorite American ex-pat, Maggie Hope, completing spy training and preparing to drop into Berlin as the first woman spy to go behind enemy lines during WWII. While she is nervous at the unknown that lies ahead she is also excited for this new adventure and ready to finally prove that she can do her part to try and end the German war machine. So off she goes, leaving all of Maggie Hope’s life behind and immersing herself in the life of her cover identity, German Margareta Hoffman. When Maggie’s initial mission – to deliver materials to a resistance group and infiltrate and bug Commandant Clara Hess’s office (Clara Hess being Maggie’s mother who she believed until recently was dead) – is completed she discovers she has a unique opportunity to get even more information for the English and decides to stay in Berlin undercover a bit longer. But circumstances beyond her control begin to unravel fast and Maggie not only discovers how truly heinous the actions of the Nazis have become but information of a more personal nature – she has a half-sister named Elise she never knew about, a half sister who is doing her own part from within Germany to help bring down the Nazis. When Maggie must seek Elise’s help to escape Berlin when her cover threatens to be blown, she also discovers that one of the people Elise has been hiding out in her attic is a man from Maggie’s past, one that will stir up her heart and change her personal life in ways she didn’t expect. As Maggie fights to get out of Germany alive she must use all of her skills as a trained spy and a pragmatic thinker to do so. But her own well-trained and scheming mother isn’t about to make her plans easy and no one, not even brilliant Ms. Hope, will be prepared for what comes next. I say this after reading each book in this series, but I just love Maggie Hope! She is brilliant, snarky and capable in so many more ways than many of the men surrounding her give her credit for. While His Majesty’s Hope has much of the same humor sprinkled in amongst the serious issues of war, loss and evil, I found this book to be much darker than the previous two. The reader is not only reintroduced to the many terrifying Nazi actions most of us already know about, such as the horrific and brutal treatment of the Jews, but told of the disgusting Children’s Euthanasia Program which saw German children deemed unfit for life (those that were blind, deaf or mentally or physically deformed) being gassed to help ultimately purify the German race. I had not heard of this practice before and let me tell you I was as disgusted as the characters when they found out. Getting an inside view of the German people during this time – both those that supported the Nazis and those that worked to try and stop them – was fascinating and a new viewpoint for me. The other aspect that I found interesting was the subtle underlying idea that evil was, and is, everywhere. While what the Nazis were doing was utterly putrid, the references to the American treatment of American Indians and blacks throughout history and the disdainful treatment of homosexuals in all countries discussed helped highlight that no country or person is perfect and everyone has their demons to shoulder. While not wanting to give anything away, His Majesty’s Hope ends with many plot lines left unresolved and ready to be picked up when the next book in the series comes out, which I hope doesn’t take very long! While Ms. MacNeal does a stellar job of getting a new reader to the series caught up on what occurred in the previous books, I would definitely suggest starting at the beginning of the series. By this third novel our brilliant Maggie has grown up quite a bit and is a little more cynical and haunted than previously, something that is inevitable when you read what she has gone through. You