Holly's Year in Review 2009--By Genre

I read 50 books last year and had a goal originally to read 72 books this year. That would be one more book per month than 2008. My LibraryThing tag for 2009 was at 67 as of yesterday (but I don't always put Picture Books in my Library Thing account). So yesterday I quickly finished off two middle-grade books I had lying around (39 Clues #5 and The Unusual Mind of Vincent Shadow) and a graphic novel I needed to return to the library. Got my total up to 70. So I'll be two books short of my goal. But not too shabby. With our new baby due the end of January, I can only hope that I can keep up with reading next year. I think my goal will be much lower though! :-) Without further ado, here's 2009's books listed by genre:

Adult Fiction
The Shepherd, The Angel and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog
Casting Spells
The Double Bind
Laced With Magic
Cherries in Winter
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane
Etta: A Novel
Vanishing Acts
Sarah's Key
The Great Christmas Bowl
The Lost Hours
The Last Bridge
Spinning Forward
Wishin' and Hopin': A Christmas Story
Shoot the Moon
Testimony
The Next Thing on My List
The Fragment
The Associate
Knit Two
The Late, Lamented Molly Marx
Words Unspoken
The Disappearance

Adult Mysteries
Sworn to Silence
Fear the Worst
Evil at Heart
Witch Hunt (Ophelia & Abby #4)
The Witch is Dead (Ophelia & Abby #5)
The Witch's Grave (Ophelia & Abby #6)
Witch Way to Murder (Ophelia & Abby #1)
Charmed to Death (Ophelia & Abby #2)
The Trouble with Witches (Ophelia & Abby #3)
A Bone to Pick (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries #2)
Wife of the Gods
What the Dead Know
Lethal Legacy
Three Bedrooms, One Corpse (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries #3)

YA Adult
The Hunger Games
Bad Girls Don't Die
The Boy in Striped Pajamas
Twilight

Middle-Grade
The Red Blazer Girls: The Ring of Rocamadour
Rescuing Seneca Crane
The Mystery of the Third Lucretia
Emma Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree
Ladies of the Lake
Flawed Dogs: The Shocking Raid on Westminster
39 Clues #5: The Black Circle
Closed for the Season
The Unusual Mind of Vincent Shadow
Luv Ya Bunches
Emma Jean Lazarus Fell in Love
39 Clues #4: Beyond the Grave
The Graveyard Book
Lily' Crossing
The Hanging Hill
Secrets of a Christmas Box
39 Clues #2: One False Note
39 Clues #3: The Sword Thief
The Postcard
Twilight (Summer Confidential)
Sunset (Summer Confidential)
Sunrise (Summer Confidential)

Children's Fiction
Roxie and the Hooligans
Llama Llama Misses Mama
Pouch
Bear-ly There
Pumpkin Baby
Me With You
Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy

Graphic Novels
Rapunzel's Revenge
Coraline
Good as Lily
The Irregulars
Museum Vaults: Excerpts from the Journal of an Expert

Also just for my information here's a breakdown of how many of the above books were:
Bought this year: 13
Advanced Copies/From the Publisher: 31
Borrowed from Library/Friend: 11 (Library), 11 (Friend)
Already sitting on my shelf: 2
Received free from Bookmooch/Giveaway: 6

Not bad, I think I need to work on reading more from my shelves in 2010 though! Only two! That doesn't seem right to me. But I guess it is.

Happy New Year and Happy Reading in 2010!!

Holly's Year in Reading 2009--By rating

I have to say, even though I read a ton of books this year, there were very few that I thought were outstanding, many were very good and entertaining. But I can't say I read one book I would recommend to EVERYONE I meet. I think Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is still the best book I've read in the last couple years.

Five stars:
The Hunger Games

Four and a half stars:
The Shepherd, The Angel and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog
The Red Blazer Girls: The Ring of Rocamadour
Casting Spells
Sworn to Silence
Rapunzel's Revenge
Roxie and the Hooligans
Rescuing Seneca Crane
The Mystery of the Third Lucretia
Emma Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree

Four Stars:
Bad Girls Don't Die
The Ladies of the Lake
Fear the Worst
The Double Bind
Flawed Dogs: The Shocking Raid on Westminster
Laced with Magic
Evil at Heart
39 Clues #5: The Black Circle
Cherries in Winter
Witch Hunt (Ophelia & Abby #4)
The Witch is Dead (Ophelia & Abby #5)
The Witch's Grave (Ophelia & Abby #6)
Witch Way to Murder (Ophelia & Abby #1)
Charmed to Death (Ophelia & Abby #2)
The Trouble with Witches (Ophelia & Abby #3)
Llama Llama Misses Mama
Coraline (graphic novel)
Closed for the Season
A Bone to Pick (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries #2)
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane
The Boy in Striped Pajamas
The Unusual Mind of Vincent Shadow
Good as Lily
Etta: A Novel
Luv Ya Bunches
Vanishing Acts
Wife of the Gods
Sarah's Key
Emma Jean Lazarus Fell in Love
The Great Christmas Bowl
39 Clues #4: Beyond the Grave
The Lost Hours

Three and a half stars:
The Last Bridge
Spinning Forward
The Graveyard Book
Lily's Crossing
The Hanging Hill
Secrets of a Christmas Box
39 Clues #2: One False Note
Wishin' and Hopin': A Christmas Story
39 Clues #3: The Sword Thief
Shoot the Moon
What the Dead Know
Museum Vaults: Excerpts from the Journal of an Expert
Twilight
Testimony
The Next Thing on my List

Three Stars:
The Postcard
The Irregulars
Fragment
Lethal Legacy
The Associate
Three Bedrooms, One Corpse (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries #3)
Knit Two
The Late, Lamented Molly Marx
Words Unspoken
The Disappearance

Two and a half stars:
Twilight (Summer Confidential)
Sunset (Summer Confidential)
Sunrise (Summer Confidential)

Mystery Monday - Juvenile Edition

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma by Trenton Lee Stewart: There's enough mystery in The Mysterious Benedict Society series to qualify it for Mystery Monday, though it's also fraught with adventure and fantasy. The extraordinary group of children assembled by Mr. Benedict in the first book, The Mysterious Benedict Society, return for their third adventure. Villainous Ledroptha Curtain is trying to reclaim the dangerous Whisperer for his own nefarious purposes, and Reynie, Sticky, Kate, and Constance are in seclusion for their own protection. The opening Prisoner's Dilemma exercise with the children is hilarious, and the unfolding adventure is rollicking as usual, with added suspense regarding Constance's new powers and her mysterious past. This one feels like the end of the series, though the door is open for future adventures. Start with the first book.

Source disclosure: I purchased this book.

Enola Holmes and the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer: Enola Holmes is the much younger sister of Sherlock and Mycroft. She lives alone with her mother, who disappears on Enola's fourteenth birthday. She enlists the help of her brothers, who are shocked at the decrepit state of the family estate and at Enola's total lack of femininity and polish. They plan to send her to finishing school, but Enola has no desire to be a proper Victorian lady. She dresses as a widow and escapes to London, where she becomes involved in the disappearance of a marquess while eluding her brothers. Enola is thoroughly engaging, a plucky, independent heroine trying to escape the constrained life of a Victorian lady. The mysteries (of her mother and of the marquess) are interesting and complex and the addition of Sherlock and Mycroft is great fun for those familiar with Sherlock's tales. Victorian England is beautifully imagined, in a realistically squalid way, and the language of flowers and ciphers of which her mother was fond are nice touches. I also read the next three in the series: The Case of the Left-Handed Lady, The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets, and The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan, in which Enola solves more mysteries while eluding her brothers. This is a delightful series.

Source disclosure: I purchased Missing Marquess, Left-Handed Lady, and Bizarre Bouquets. I received Peculiar Pink Fan through BookMooch.

Mystery Monday!

Yes, I am taking a break from holiday craziness to get caught up on a few reviews. Several of my favorite mystery series have had recent additions.

Swan for the Money by Donna Andrews: I really enjoy the Meg Langslow mysteries, and this one was no exception. This is the eleventh entry, and by now, the characters are old friends. Andrews keeps the series fresh with a full complement of supporting characters (especially Meg's crazy family) and venue changes. In this case, Meg has been hornswaggled into overseeing a rose show. I don't have much interest in flower competitions, so I wasn't sure how exciting this entry would be, but the rose information is well-incorporated and not belabored. The prize-crazy participants, including a saboteur and a dognapper, add to the chaos and humor. An enjoyable entry in a long-running favorite. Start with the first, Murder WIth Peacocks.

Source disclosure: I purchased this book.

Plum Pudding Murder by Joanne Fluke: I enjoy Hannah Swensen's mysteries and recipes, and the twelfth in the series, set during the Christmas season in Lake Eden, Minnesota, was a fun visit with familiar characters. The solution to this one was on the lame side, I thought, but the murder isn't the real draw in this series. I still find Hannah's chaste love triangle to be contrived and really implausible: Mike and Norman, her beaux, are friends with each other, and neither is bothered by her dates with the other. I have been wishing for the past few books that Fluke would just have her pick a guy and be done with it, but this is not that book. However, this entry introduces an unforeseen complication that may make the next book a doozy. Oh, have I not mentioned the murder? Larry, the owner of the Christmas tree farm, is shot in his trailer after eating Hannah's plum pudding (with actual plums!). He wasn't a particularly sympathetic guy, so I didn't care that much about the sleuthing. Hannah's holiday preparations (especially her cat, Moishe, and his response the the Christmas tree) and the mystery of Norman's mother's odd behavior are more engaging. Start with the first in the series, Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder.

Source disclosure: I purchased this book.

The Tale of Briar Bank by Susan Wittig Albert: I could not love this adorable series more, and it seems clear that Wittig Albert is having a great time writing it. This book blends facts from Beatrix Potter's life in the winter of 1909 with an imaginative tale involving Viking treasure, a dragon, and the local animals trying to crack the apparently accidental death of a man whose head was clobbered with a falling branch. But what of the claw marks on the tree? A delightful blend of biography, historical fiction, fantasy, and gentle mystery. Start with the first, The Tale of Hill Top Farm.

Rotton to the Core by Sheila Connolly: I really enjoyed the first in this series, One Bad Apple, and was looking forward to the next installment. I was very pleased with the follow-up. Meg Corey is settling into ownership of an apple orchard in Granford, Massachusetts, having hired a student to help manage the orchard. A young man is found dead in her orchard, and turns out to have ties to her manager. The victim, Jason, was part of GreenGrow, an organization promoting organic farming. Was his death a political statement, or something personal? Meg is a complex, interesting protagonist, and Granford a charming setting. The information about apple orchards is well-incorporated and fascinating.

Cozy Giveaway Winner!

Thank you to those who entered our giveaway for Kate Jacobs knitting books and cozy goodies! Haleyknitz is the big winner! Congrats!!

Cherries in Winter by Suzan Colon

Allison wrote a review of Cherries in Winter here. But I thought I would just add a few words. I breezed through this little memoir enjoying it quite a bit. I not only enjoyed reading about each generation of Suzan's family, but also enjoyed her style of writing and her attitude toward her situation.

I'm not sure I can explain why, but my favorite anecdote in the book is the one where Matilde spends a week's worth of wages on beautiful blue vases. Her husband is appalled by this behavior but she simply says to him, "We will have these vases long after our stomachs are full again." Sometimes it's just nice to have a few pretty things around us even if they aren't in our budget. :-)

I recommend this book for a nice quick cozy winter read!

Source disclosure: I received a galley copy from Doubleday.

Last Chance!!

Just a friendly reminder that our Cozy Autumn Giveaway ends tomorrow!! Enter now for your chance to win!

Contest winner!

Thank you to everyone who entered the Green Books Initiative giveaway! The winner is Ilse.

Green Books Campaign: Ethnic Knitting Exploration

This review is part of the Green Books campaign. Today 100 bloggers are reviewing 100 great books printed in an environmentally friendly way. Our goal is to encourage publishers to get greener and readers to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books. This campaign is organized by Eco-Libris, a a green company working to green up the book industry by promoting the adoption of green practices, balancing out books by planting trees, and supporting green books. A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on Eco-Libris website.

Ethnic Knitting Exploration is printed using FSC-certified paper and/or recycled paper. Personally, I am conflicted about print books. I prefer them, and I haven't switched to an electronic reader for that reason. However, I am concerned about the environmental impact of print books. Using FSC-certified and recycled paper is a greener solution without giving up the magic of turning pages or the ability to lend a favorite book to a friend.

Ethnic Knitting Exploration: Lithuania, Iceland, and Ireland by Donna Druchunas: This is a fascinating read, and a great resource for knitters interested in exploring the traditional techniques of these three cultures. This is not, however, a pattern book. Instead, Druchunas gives you all the tools you need to design a custom project based on your measurements, preferred structure and motifs, and your choice of yarn, with tips for tweaking established patterns. Along the way, she includes information about each culture's approach to knitting, traditions, and materials (e.g., an interesting definition/explanation of Lopi yarn in the Iceland section). She offers sample projects with charts for plugging in your measurements for determining the number of stitches needed for a perfect fit. Projects include fingerless mittens and raglan pullovers (Lithuania), a capelet, yoked pullover and cardigan (Iceland), and a poncho and Aran pullover (Ireland). A final section includes further information on cardigans. This book is absolutely packed with information, but the organization is brilliant and makes it very easy to design and execute a project that will fit perfectly and incorporate the elements you like best.

Source disclosure: I received this book courtesy of Nomad Press through the Green Books Initiative.

Are you an adventurous knitter? Does this book sound perfect for you? Leave a comment on this post to be entered to win it!

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This contest is open worldwide. Enter before Friday, November 13 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Angels Inc. by Bruce McBay

I liked the premise of this book: two children form a club to help people who need it, but their good intentions cause problems. The execution, however, is rather choppy, making it difficult for the reader to identify with the children. I think this is a cute early reader, and the urge to do good provides ample discussion opportunities for parents to ask children to think about how they can help others. In a brief chapter book, there were really too many attempts to help others crammed in. There is some humor, but every scene is so brief and superficial that it's not very well developed. Further, the children's motives are unclear. Clueless Wendy decides out of the blue that she'd like to help people (which is commendable, but not explained) and Zach agrees to go along with her plan as long as he can eat ice cream every day. Zach appears to understand (in a way that Wendy does not) that their actions are causing problems rather than solving them, but he doesn't seem particularly bothered by that. A plotline about neighborhood thieves is thrown in near the end, which is so abrupt I checked to be sure my copy wasn't missing the final pages.

Source disclosure: I received a review copy of this book through LibraryThing.

Cherries in Winter by Suzan Colon

Suzan Colon loses her dream job in 2008 as the economy is tanking, and part of her economizing includes learning to cook. She digs out her grandmother's recipe file and finds the sturdy, inexpensive recipes that have seen her family through generations of hard economic times. This slender volume is interspersed with those recipes and stories from Colon's family history. At first, I wondered how I would be able to identify with a woman whose idea of economizing includes skipping the $20 sushi lunches and plucking her own eyebrows instead of paying $40 a week, but Colon is humble and grateful and constantly recognizes that others are much worse off than she is. She also realized that her days at the magazine were numbered as the economic downturn began, so her economizing begins well before she loses her job. The recipes are meat-heavy and old-fashioned and didn't appeal to me, but they tell a good story. The title refers to the exorbitant price Colon's grandmother, Matilda, spent to have cherries in winter, despite the family's financial troubles, referring to the idea that to survive hard times, sometimes you must act rich, even for a moment, by indulging in a small luxury.

This was an inspirational little book, and a fascinating look at generations of women who have suffered through hard times without losing their positive outlook on life.

Source disclosure: I received a bound galley courtesy of Doubleday.

Homer's Odyssey by Gwen Cooper

Homer's Odyssey by Gwen Cooper is subtitled "A Fearless Feline Tale, or How I Learned About Love and Life with a Blind Wonder Cat," but it may as well be subtitled "THE stocking stuffer for the animal lover on your Christmas list." I was delighted to receive an advance copy, and I was not disappointed. With a foreword by the veterinarian who rescued Homer, this gentle, inspiring story tells how Gwen's life became entwined with that of a very special cat. Homer was brought to Dr. Khuly to be euthanized because a severe infection would require removal of both his eyes. Instead, Dr. Khuly performed the surgery, then searched high and low for someone willing to take on a blind cat. Gwen Cooper, a twentysomething staying with a friend (having recently lost the boyfriend who had supplemented her nonprofit salary), was reluctant to take on a third cat, but something about Homer spoke to her, and she brought the little guy home. This memoir documents the twelve years following Cooper's adoption of Homer, and it tells her life story partly through the lessons she learned from her brave, extraordinary, loving cat, as she tries to become the person she wants to be in career and relationships.

I happen to be a cat person, and one of my cats was born blind, so I enjoyed this story on a unique level, but I was also predisposed to judge it with a critical eye because I'm not much of a memoir fan. Homer's story is riveting, however, and Cooper tells it well. Her own story is no less interesting; for example, she moves back in with her parents to save on rent while she starts on the bottom rung of a new career - a brave act in its own way. She considers Homer to have inspired her to be brave and open to the world around her. Her account of 9/11 and its aftermath (she lived and worked very close to the World Trade Center) is particularly impressive. I could have done with a bit less gushing about her boyfriend, but I suppose that's to be expected, and it was relatively painless to skim past. Homer is the star in this book, overcoming his disability with aplomb to become a loving companion whose leaps of faith amaze everyone around him.

If you know a cat person, or an animal lover, you can stop looking now: Homer's Odyssey is undoubtedly the perfect holiday gift.

Source disclosure: I received an advance copy courtesy of Random House.

Cozy Autumn Giveaway!

Giveaway time again here at On My Bookshelf...

Autumn is my FAVORITE time of year hands down! I love the changing colors, I love the leaves everywhere. I love watching my kids play in the leaves, trick or treating, Thanksgiving, etc. Just love the coziness of it all! So in honor of my favorite season, I've put together a fun giveaway.

I have a hardcover of Kate Jacob's The Friday Night Knitting Club as well as an ARC of Knit Two! One winner will get BOTH books. I'm going to throw in a gift that goes along with it as well, just to add to the coziness (hint: it has to do with warm beverages).

Contest rules:
1) Leave a comment WITH AN EMAIL ADDRESS. If you don't leave an email in the comment, you will be disqualified. In your comment, please let me know if you happen to be a knitter as well as a book lover and I might throw an extra little surprise in the box if you win!
2) Leave meaningful comments on any other posts (old or new posts) for extra entries. One entry per comment.
3) Open only to US and Canada addresses.
4) Contest open Nov. 2nd through Nov. 2oth.

The Lost Hours by Karen White

The Lost Hours by Karen White is quite the change of pace from my recent seasonal YA and middle-grade reading. But actually a very nice change of pace. I needed something different and my October book club fit the bill.

I've seen several of White's books reviewed on various blogs and they always seem to appeal to me when I read about them. I was excited to have the opportunity to finally read one.

White introduces the reader to Piper Mills, an accomplished competitive equestrian who is still recovering from a tragic fall six years earlier. She lost her parents in a car accident when she was six years old and was raised by her grandparents. Early in the book, her grandparents both pass away leaving her with her grandmother's angel charm necklace and a key to something unknown. She finds several things in her grandparents' house that lead her to wonder who her grandmother really was and what her story was. Piper follows a trail of clues to her grandmother's childhood friend Lillian, now an elderly woman with grandchildren and great-grandchildren of her own. Disguised as a geneologist looking into "someone's" family, she tries to delve into the past and figure out what could have torn these two woman apart and how all of that relates to the grandmother she knew and grew up with.

This book is told from three perspectives: Piper's, Lillian's, and Lillian's granddaughter Helen. It also goes back and forth between present day and what happened in the late 1930's between the two women. The past is told by using old scrapbook entries as the storytelling mechanism so it is never difficult to follow where you are or who is speaking at the time.

This book is very much about family relationships and "broken" people. I think just about ever character in this book has had something tragic happen to them in one way or another and they are still trying to heal and get to a better place mentally. Though, the book itself is not all together depressing. The thing I found most interesting is the backdrop of the late 1930's in Savannah, Georgia and the issues of race and segregation that were apparent. While I definitely wouldn't categorize this book as historical fiction, there are definitely elements here that would fit.

The pace of this book is quite slow, you have to have the expectation of that going in or you may lose patience. The prose is very lyrical and descriptive. So much so, that it's annoying is some spots (at least to me), but again, a nice change of pace from my current spooky reading. Flowers and gardening are a theme throughout the book as is the idea that women are the storytellers in life and we should and must pass down their stories to their daughters.

I'm not sure I've done a good job of making this book sound appealing. If you like lyrical stories about women and familial relationships, this is definitely the book for you! My book club seemed to like it overall, though it was quite slow for most people.

Other reviews:
J. Kaye's Book Blog, Bloggin' 'bout Books, Girls Just Reading, The Tome Traveller

Source disclosure: I purchased this book.

Picture Book Friday: Pumpkin Baby and Dangerous Alphabet

Although, Jane Yolen's Pumpkin Baby isn't really a "halloween" book, I'm throwing it up here because it has pumpkins in it and I need to get it reviewed. :-) It's been sitting on my shelf for way too long!

Boy, Jane Yolen sure is a prolific children's book author! I just searched Barnes and Noble because I was going to make the statement that "Pumpkin Baby is Jane Yolen's most recent published book." Good thing I checked that fact. Because according to the B&N website, this is actually no. 22 on her list. That is, she has 21 other books already out or coming out in the near future, including some very fun looking new "How Do Dinosaurs..." books!

Pumpkin Baby starts out with a three year old little girl imagining what a pumpkin baby might look like. Each year as she gets older, she imagines a new baby (cabbage baby, stork baby) until her mother has a new baby when she's six. The new baby is nothing like she pictured, but in a good way!

Very sweet book with fun adorable illustrations. Perfect for our house right now as we await arrival of Baby #3 in January. Though the entire book isn't about fall or pumpkins, there are several pages that illustrate both so it could nonchalantly be categorized as a "fall" book. :-)

Source Disclosure: This book was sent to me for review from Samantha at Penguin.

The Dangerous Alphabet by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Gris Grimly is just about the opposite of Pumpkin Baby. ;-) It was recommended to me by Carl from Stainless Steel Droppings when I joined the R.I.P. IV Reading Challenge. This is definitely not a book for younger children. But I believe older picture book readers and in particular boys will get a real kick out of this, especially around this time of year. It could be paired quite well with Goodnight Goon by Michael Rex.

The Dangerous Alphabet follows two children and their pet gazelle through the depths of a crazy underworld filled with monsters, animals, and pirates as they face a macabre alphabet adventure. Grimly's illustrations are utterly imaginative and you can't stop looking at them. Every time I take a look, I see something else. Each letter page seems to have an object or items in the picture that starts with that letter (ie: an apple for A, a snake for S, an x-ray for X). You and your child can have fun looking for all the things that represent each letter. Also, several pages of the book contain illustrations or early drawings of the actual pages of the book as well as one where a ghost is reading a copy of The Dangerous Alphabet to a group of children.

I say this book is not for young readers for the simple fact that many of the illustrations show children chained up or being dragged off by monsters. Definitely not appropriate for the preschool sector, but perfectly enjoyable for adults and older children.

Source disclosure: Borrowed from the library.

Picture Book Thursday: Bear-ly There by Rebekah Raye

Today we're featuring Bear-ly There by Rebekah Raye on Picture Book Thursday.

Raye has written a wonderful story with a great message about enjoying nature but not interfering with it.

Bear-ly There tells the story of a curious bear just awake from hibernating all winter long. He begins to forage and discovers that bird seed and grain found in human backyards provide quite a tasty treat. While he seems to leave animals alone, he creates quite a mess all over the neighborhood. Charlie and his family are afraid the bear will go after their pet geese. Other neighbors want to call animal control or shoot the bear themselves. While Charlie does not like the bear visiting his yard, he does some research and learns that there are things people can do to keep the bear from wanting to come into their yards. Charlie is more concerned about the bear staying in his natural habitat in the woods and finding his food there.

Charlie posts his newfound knowledge in town for all his neighbors to see. Eventually, the bear decides it is more interesting to stay in the woods. Every now and then Charlie still gets a glimpse of the bear just on the edge of the woods. But the bear always stays where he belongs.

I really like the message in this book. I like that instead of taking an active approach to getting rid of the bear like many of the adults in the neighborhood wanted, it was much better for the bear if the humans just took steps to direct him back to his home in the woods. Such a nice, gentle approach to the problem. And I like that Raye is showing a child can learn this information and pass it on to adults.

Raye also illustrates this book with wonderfully artistic drawings. As I always seem to say about Tilbury House books, the artwork is so great! The images are so much more realistic and artistic from many children's picture books which feature cartoon-ish images (not that I don't like those too). It's refreshing to have some more realistic images sometimes.

About the Author:
Rebekah Raye is an artist beloved for her bird and animal paintings and sculpture. Her warm, expressive work is derived from her affinity with the natural world around her at her studio and home in East Blue Hill, Maine (where she had a bear visitor not too long ago). She illustrated Thanks to the Animals by Allen Sockabasin and is the author and illustrator of The Very Best Bed. Rebekah shares her skills and her love of art in workshops for adults and children and makes frequent school visits. You can learn more about Rebekah at www.rebekahraye.com.

This post is part of the Bear-ly There book blog tour! And you can read more about the book at Nature Moms tomorrow!

The author has graciously offered to contribute some of her beautiful wildlife artwork (see samples of her work here), in addition to the signed books Tilbury House will be giving away. So the publisher will be giving out a total of 10 fantastic prizes during the tour!

Blog Comment Prizes
Tilbury House will draw 9 lucky winners from all of those who leave comments on the participating tour posts from (October 16-30) to win one of the following prizes:

- A set of four art cards (2 sets available)
- A signed wildlife art print
- An original sketch from Bear-ly There
- An original sketch from The Very Best Bed
- An original sketch from Thanks to the Animals
- A copy of Bear-ly There, The Very Best Bed, or Thanks to the Animals, signed by Rebekah Raye
Winners will be announced on Oct. 31, US/Canada addresses only, please.

Twitter Prize
Everyone that participates in the Twitter Book Party, and/or posts anything about the tour using the hashtag #BearlyThere from October 15-30 will be entered to win a complete set of Bear-ly There, Thanks to the Animals, and The Very Best Bed, all signed by Rebekah Raye. Winners will be announced on Oct. 31, US/Canada addresses only, please.

So again, this contest is through the publisher, not this blog. Please leave comments here to be entered. And the publisher is will announce (or contact you) if you are a winner.

Source disclosure: I received a galley copy of Bear-ly There from Sarah at Tilbury House to review as part of the book tour.

Casting Spells by Barbara Bretton

I first discovered this book by reading a review of it at Wrighty's Reads. Wrighty so thoroughly convinced me I HAD to read this book, I immediately checked the library website and saw they had a copy. I went that morning to check it out!

Casting Spells is a delightful book about Chloe, the owner of Sticks and Strings, a yarn shop in Sugar Maple, Vermont. Though, everyone in town is somehow part of the paranormal world, humans/visitors to town only see "normal" things. They do not see anything out of the ordinary. This is all part of the protective spell that Chloe's mother and the entire female lineage of her family have put on the town. As long as the spell and the Book of Spells is passed down to another direct female family member, the town will keep its secrets and the inhabitants will be safe from the clutches of evil.

All of this seems like it will be put to the test when it appears that Chloe will not gain any magic powers from her family (she's only half-witch, her father was a human). And she has no children to pass the Book of Spells down to. Isadora, a fairy with an evil plan, is after the Book of Spells in order to take control and bring Sugar Maple to another realm. When a visitor to town winds up murdered, the state sends in a cop (Luke MacKenzie) to investigate. Chloe cannot deny the magnetism (and many sparks that fly) between the two and just as she feared she would never have magic, her powers begin to blossom.

Can she really be falling in love with a human? Will she make the same mistakes in life as her mother? Can she figure out what exactly is the Book of Spells and will she be able to save it from the clutches of Isadora? You'll have to read the book to find out!

What grabbed me about this book? Oh gee, I don't know. Could it be that it had to do with not only knitting, but a whole town of witches, vampires, fairies, trolls and more?! Yes! For some reason I really enjoy paranormal books, especially ones about witches. After reading Wrighty's review, I just HAD to read it. Casting Spells is actually billed as a paranormal romance, which normally would send me running in the other direction, but this little town and all its fantastic characters, plus the lack of too much romance (thank god!), make for a fun read. Especially around this time of year. I absolutely LOVED all the knitting references in this book. I was familiar with several of the yarns discussed and all the talk about the knitting projects just fueled my desire to continue reading. I also thoroughly enjoyed the Tips for Knitters found in the back of the book by Barbara Bretton and a couple other authors along with links to their knitting blogs.

The story is told in first person from both Luke and Chloe's viewpoints. Here are a couple of fun quotes:
In one of Luke's chapters:
"I stepped deeper into the store, past a polished maple worktable piled high with pointed sticks and scissors and things that would never make it past airport security. The place smelled of lavender and licorice and a hint of mint. Lots of magazines with sweaters on the cover were stacked in more piles on one side while an equal number of unfinished knitting projects were stacked on the other. I noted a ball of something blue and fluffy and picked it up. I squeezed it and the price tag jumped out and I quickly put it back down again. For one ball of yarn? This was worse than crack. Get addicted to this stuff and you would be living in your minivan." (page 76)

And from Chloe's point of view:
"Who are you?" I demanded and probably not in the friendliest tone of voice. For the record, I don't wake up each morning brimming over with the joy of life. The joy of life pretty much arrives around the same time as my third cup of coffee and the fourth round of my latest sock-in-progress." (page 79)

I have to say if you are a knitter, you may enjoy this book even more than others, just because you will be familiar with the terminology and yarn discussions. But these are not overpowering and I believe anyone can really enjoy this one.

And the great news is, this book is part of a series! Laced With Magic is now on bookshelves so you can rush right out and read that one too. I picked it up at the library this morning. Though, I'm disciplining myself and I have to read two other books I've had waiting around before I can get to it.

Highly recommend this one!
Here's the book trailer:

The future of paper books?

Today's Shelf Awareness newsletter was chock full of articles on e-readers. Barnes and Noble announced their version, the Nook, will debut at the same price as the Kindle. There was yet another article discussing Kindle's international reader:
As Amazon launched the international edition of its Kindle, Retail Week considered whether e-readers "will bring about bookshops' demise, or if the world of print will prove resilient."

I sincerely hope the world of print never actually goes the way of cassette tapes and 8-tracks. BUT, you never know. And all this new e-reader technology makes me a bit nervous. While I'm normally a gadget girl and love the latest television, iPod, and photographic equipment, I love the feel of a book in my hands. I've considered the idea of purchasing an e-reader just because I'm drawn to the technology of it. I'm not a snob about the idea of an e-reader. I see it's value, especially as a travel companion, or for magazines and newspapers. But I don't really travel that often (at least by anything other than car--where books are still quite appropriate), and I don't really read magazines and newspapers anyway. So I haven't taken the plunge.

I just really hope all this e-technology and book price-slashing doesn't eventually push the publishing world to abandon print all together. I know everyone is struggling, newspapers have shrunk. And I have to admit I read most of my news online, just because its more convenient and I feel like I'm saving a tree by not having all that paper around the house (though I recycle it anyway). While I also know that trees are cut down to create the paper books are printed on, I'm somehow more okay with that. ;-)

I also think about my kids. I absolutely LOVED disappearing into the world of a book as a child. I was known to spend a whole weekend curled up somewhere in the house reading away. I somehow can't picture doing that with an e-reader. And my kids are already bombarded by so much technology and stimuli in their environment from television, to computer games, to video games, to using Smart Boards at school (even in preschool!). I think it's fantastic for them to take a time out from all that visual stimuli and sit down with a book, pouring over the pictures and words.

Just felt the need to ramble on this topic this morning. :-)

YA Weekend: R.I.P. Challenge Books

October is a fun month to read creepy books. Halloween and Autumn just put me in the mood for mysteries and thrillers.

I've had my eye on Bad Girls Don't Die by Kate Alender since I first noticed it in the blogging world last spring. From the reviews I read, it sounded so deliciously creepy.

High school student Alexis goes along with her life in typical teenage fashion, trying to fit in with the "Doom Squad" and but not quite feeling like they are really her crowd. She's not entirely sure where she fits in. She also has a fairly dysfunctional family with a workaholic mother, a dad who doesn't really seem to be involved much, and a younger sister Kasey who borders on quite weird. Kasey seems overly obsessed with her doll collection, even at age thirteen. Kasey has been ostracized by her friends and Alexis starts to see things are getting a little out of control. But Alexis can't quite figure out what Kasey's deal is. Bad Girls Don't Die evokes a few memories of The Exorcist. ;-) Actually, I'd be curious to know if the author got a bit stuck in the middle of the book. I felt the first half had one feel or tone to the story and then all of sudden with help from an unlikely friend Alexis figures out what's going on and the second half of the book has a much different feel to it. I actually liked the first half of the book better. The sort of mystery of it all. And the second half felt like I was reading a movie script...predictable and contrived. But overall, I enjoyed this quick YA read and would recommend it to anyone looking for something creepy to read. I would have LOVED this book as a teenager. Sidenote: I ended up reading the second half of this one night, in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep. THAT made it even more CREEPY! Shockingly I was able to go back to sleep when I was through and didn't have freaky dreams.

Though I have the novel Coraline on my bookshelf and was hoping to knock it off my TBR list and get one of my bookshelf books read. It's been sitting there for over a year now. I actually decided to read the graphic novel version instead. I've been in the mood for a graphic novel lately and this just seemed to fit the bill. About half way through, I was thinking to myself that I probably wouldn't read the novel after reading the graphic novel, because I felt like I would simply visualize the comic people in my mind instead of whatever I would have conjured up myself from Gaiman's descriptive writing. However, by the end of the graphic novel, I do believe I would like to read the novel as well. This story was just as creepy as Bad Girls Don't Die. I'm actually surprised that a graphic novel creeped me out just as much as novel. I think it was the Other Mother. Man, she was just awful! I highly recommend either version of this story for a fun Halloween read and I'm sure the movie that came out last year is just as good.

Closed for the Season by Mary Downing Hahn is a middle-grade mystery that I have seen reviewed several places around the book blog world. The reviews only mildly peaked my interest. It wasn't until passing it on the library bookshelf that I decided I wanted to give it a try. And even though I've already read my four books for the R.I.P. IV Challenge, I figure why stop just because I hit FOUR. I also have a copy of Hahn's The Doll in the Garden sitting on my bookshelf. If that is as good as this one, I think I might have to delve into that one soon.

In Closed For the Season, Logan and his family move into an old rundown house in a new town and quickly learn that it is referred to as "the murder house". The previous owner, Mrs. Donaldson was murdered because she discovered someone embezzling money from The Magic Forest, the local amusement park. Logan meets a brainy and precocious boy next door named Arthur. The two pal around and decide to try and solve Mrs. Donaldson's murder running into the rough and tumble of the town as well as the hoyt-y toyt-y (hmm....spelling on that one?). The boys soon learn they don't know who they can trust, but they persevere and try to solve the mystery.

This book is a very fun middle-grade mystery. It actually reminded me a bit of a Nancy Drew book (or I suppose Hardy Boys--though I never read any of those. The Hardy Boys were mentioned in passing by one of the characters in this book.). Just an old-fashioned kids-stumble-upon-a-mystery-and-try-to-solve-it book. I really enjoyed this one and I think the middle-school version of me would have loved it!

These would be books #3, 4 and 5 that would work for the R.I.P. IV Reading Challenge! Yay! I completed a challenge! And this was a great one! I plan on doing it again next year, assuming Carl plans on hosting it again. :-)

Source disclosure: I borrowed all of these books from the library.

YA Weekend: Luv Ya Bunches

I had a lot of fun reading Luv Ya Bunches by Lauren Myracle. I first saw this charming book listed on Shelf Awareness awhile back and the cover is what caught my eye. I loved that the four main characters were so multi-cultural; that this book could appeal to a very wide range of girls no matter what their background is.

Luv Ya Bunches is the story of four fifth-grade girls: Violet, Katie-Rose, Camilla and Yasaman. They are each dealing with their own friendship issues: Violet is the new girl in school and not sure where she will fit in; Katie-Rose comes off a little strange and a bit goofy, she's obsessed with video and film; Camilla is the third girl in a three-girl "mean girl" clique and not so sure she's really a "mean girl" or that she cares that much about popularity; and Yasaman, whose nickname is Spazaman around school, is shy, a wallflower (always good for eavesdropping), and great with computers. Yasaman creates a social networking website just for her and her friends. Now, she just needs to find some friends. And this is the year for it! Each of these girls are desperate in their own way for new friends and happen to find each other.

Even though this book is middle grade fiction geared specifically at 4-6th grade girls, I found the characters to have a ton of personality and depth. Each of the four main characters had their own personality traits that again would appeal to a large group of girls, either as someone they identify with or someone they would like to be. There's a great storyline about friendship and what is truly important. Also deals with the issue of "mean girls" and popularity. The story is told in alternating chapters with each of the four main characters having their own voice and story. Myracle has also incorporated the technology of today into the book through instant message conversations as well as film script style storytelling. These stylistic components are sure to appeal to girls in this age range.

A real winner and a perfect gift for the tween on your book shopping list! Also good for any reader who really enjoyed Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree and Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell in Love. Though this was a little bit fluffier then the Emma-Jean books. I think Luv Ya Bunches will definitely appeal to Emma-Jean readers.

Other blogger opinions: I'm Booking It, Welcome to My Tweendom, My Reading Room

Here is a link to a fun author interview with Lauren Myracle.
And the book trailer:


Source disclosure: ARC sent to me by Laura Mihalick from Abrams Books through a Shelf Awareness galley request.

A Few Words About the FTC and Blogging

I have about 50 book blogs in my Google Reader and I've found one topic that keeps popping up in recent weeks: the new FTC guidelines and bloggers. The main issue is whether bloggers receive any monetary compensation for endorsing a product/service on their blog. And mainly the FTC just declares that "bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service." I usually do this anyway. If I receive an ARC or review copy of a book from a publisher, I tend to thank whomever sent it to me. I will continue to do that and in addition, will simply put a "Source disclosure" at the end of each book review either stating whether the book was purchased, borrowed (library), or received as a review copy.

In general, our book review policy is as follows:

1) We always give our honest opinion about a book. Even if we don't thoroughly love the book, we always try to find some redeeming quality to it and will never simply trash a book. We also tend to only accept review copies of books that we believe will be of interest to us or fall within the general topic categories of our blog (cozy mystery, children's fiction, YA fiction, adult fiction and mystery).

2) We attempt to review books in a timely manner, but can make no guarantee a book review will be published before a release date.

3) We receive nothing in return for any of our reviews whether our opinion of a book is positive or negative.

4) We do not sell any of our books whether they are ARCs or already published. We tend to keep most books because we LOVE to be surrounded by them. If we decide to part with a book either because we didn't love it, it's a duplicate, or for some other reason, we tend to pass it along to fellow book lovers through a giveaway on this blog, simply lend/give it to a friend, or we mooch it on bookmooch.com.

Book Club Snippets

I haven't been very good about reviewing my book club books the last several months. I think that's because most of them were just "meh" for me and I didn't feel like writing a long review for a blah book.

The Associate by John Grisham has been touted as a return to the style he was first known for with The Firm and The Client. It has been awhile since I've read a Grisham novel. I think The Summons was the last one I read. I have such high expectations when something is compared to any of Grisham's earlier works. This one was mildly interesting but no where near as good as The Firm for me. It would make for a good beach/vacation read though.
Source disclosure: Book purchased

Billie Letts also wrote Where the Heart Is. I have not read that book, but have seen the movie a number of times. I wasn't sure what I would think about this book going into it. Shoot the Moon is the story of a stranger coming to visit a small town to learn about his roots. Is he who he really says he is, the grown man who once was a baby that disappeared from the town decades earlier? Nick moves from feeling like an outsider to realizing perhaps he is finally home. This was an average to good read for me. The "mystery" of what happened to Nick kept me intrigued. The romantic angle to the book seemed quite unrealistic for me. But I'm not usually too into romantic story angles anyway. :-) If you're just looking for a light quick read with just a little depth, this would be a good one.
Source disclosure: Borrowed book from a friend

Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen can be characterized as Southern Fiction. Catherine Grace grows up the preacher's daughter in the small town of Ringgold, Georgia. The book starts off with Catherine Grace as a child and moves through to adulthood. She leaves Ringgold and has to come back when tragedy strikes. I have to admit this was a DNF (did not finish) for me. I got to about page 50 and just couldn't take the Southern preacher talk anymore. My book club thought it was all right though and some liked it pretty well. Again, I imagine this might be a good vacation/car trip book.
Source disclosure: Borrowed from the library

Testimony by Anita Shreve was our September book. Again, this was a rather fast read thanks to short chapters. And again, this one fell a bit short for me. Each chapter featured a different character's voice rotating through the story. True to its title, the book starts after an tragic event of date rape (or was it?) at a New England prep school. The characters go through the aftermath of the event telling where their lives at now. What Shreve did accomplish was writing an impressive array of different character voices. If you didn't have the chapter title, often you could tell which character was speaking just by the tone of the section. Though Shreve did an interesting job with the character voice, I felt she had TOO many characters. We had everyone from the main participants in the event to the lunch lady, the liquor store clerk and more. Some people just didn't seem to be needed to tell the story. I also felt that the ending didn't fully satisfy my curiosity about what really happened. I wanted to know more about the girl and her motives. It was never made clear if she really was taken advantage of, or if she just worked the situation to make it appear she was taken advantage of so she wouldn't get into trouble. I sort of wanted to know more about her. My final thought on Testimony is that I felt like she was trying to mimic Jodi Picoult's style of switching character voice, but in this case I felt like it didn't work as well as Picoult. On one good note, this was a good book club book because it provided a LOT of discussion.
Source disclosure: Received book from Hachette. I won a copy in a book blog giveaway.

BBAW Contest Wrap-up: The Winners!!

Thank you to EVERYONE for checking out our blog during BBAW! It was so fun to hear from so many of you and explore some new blogs as well!

Here are the winners for our daily contests:

Day #1: Fearless Fourteen
Wanda (Manitoba, Canada)

Day #1: Mating Rituals of the Northern America WASP/The Chocolate Lover's Club Brenda in Michigan

Day #2: Evil at Heart
holdenj (Minnesota--actually practically down the road from me! What a coincidence)

Day#2: Simon Bloom books GBK Gwyneth (This cracks me up because Gwyneth is my neighbor!)

Day #4: Testimony (2 winners)
Pippirose (Ontario, Canada)
Cheryl (Ontario, Canada)

Day #5: The Associate
Belinda M (Winnipeg, Canada)

Day #5: If Your Kid Eats This Book.../Smart Mama's Green Guide Holdenj (another one for you!)

Stay tuned! I'm going to have a fun Autumn Giveaway starting November 1st!

Picture Book Thursday is Back!!

Our enthusiasm for Picture Book Thursday seemed to fizzle out a bit last spring. But I think that was mostly because we had shared most of our favorite books from our daughters' vast collections. BUT, I've had some review picture books laying around here for quite a while now and I am hoping to make Picture Book Thursday a regular feature once again! So let's start off with Pouch! by David Ezra Stein. Became available in book stores on September 17th.

This adorable book introduces us to a baby kangaroo who wants to get out of his mother's pouch and hop around to explore the world. He is excited to see what is out and around him, however, when he encounters something new to him (a bee, rabbit, bird, a new kangaroo friend) he gets a bit nervous and runs back to his mother's pouch for comfort. Each time he emerges from the pouch he takes a few more steps away from his mother, but she is always there for him if he needs her for comfort.

Such a fun little book to show children that it is great to take a few steps away from Mom and see the surprises of the world. And Mommy will always be right there for you if you need a little extra comfort as you get used to something new. And in the end, taking those steps away from Mom could mean something great like making a new friend to play with!

For extra fun, look at the illustrations closely and see if your child can spot the animal from the previous pages in the drawings (ie: the bee on the rabbit page).

Pouch! is perfect for those children who may be a little shy and might need a story to show that it is okay to be nervous about encountering new things. I also think this would be great for the toddler to preschool group who are growing too old for board books, but do not have the attention span yet for longer story-driven picture books. A perfect starter picture book!

About the Author/Illustrator:
David Ezra Stein received the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award for Leaves, which was also a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, a Kirkus Reviews Editor's Choice and a School Library Journal Best Book. His other books include: The Nice Book, Cowboy Ned and Andy, and Monster Hug! He lives in Kew Gardens, New York.

There is a fun "Making of Pouch" feature on the author's website! Check it out here.

Thank you to Sara Zick from the Penguin Group for sending me a copy of this delightful book to review!

The Hanging Hill by Chris Grabenstein

Last year, I LOVED Chris Grabenstein's The Crossroads. It was one of two five-star books I read last year (here's my review). So for me, his follow-up had some high expectations to live up to.

Unfortunately, I feel The Hanging Hill fell a bit short of those expectations. But was a worthwhile and fast read nonetheless. In The Hanging Hill, we find it has been two months since the incident at the Crossroads. Zack and his family are living in an extended-stay hotel while their house is rebuilt (it burned down in the first book). Zack and his stepmom Judy travel to Chatham, Connecticut to spend some time at the Hanging Hill Theater where her popular children's book series, Curiosity Cat, is being turned into a musical.

Sidenote: The creepy building on the cover is the Hanging Hill Theater depicted as it looked when Judy and Zack first pull up to it. Until I read the passage in the book (page 41 toward the bottom), I never noticed the lights making a jack-o-latern face. Pretty cool, huh?

Obviously, by the name of the theater you might be able to guess that it was built on top of the place where historically they used to hold public hangings. And therefore, many ghosts (good spirits and demons) haunt the old theater. Zack meets some of the cast members--children his own age--and becomes friends with Meghan who can also see ghosts! He's thrilled someone else can see them besides him and Judy. And he stops to notice that Meghan does in fact eat food proving she is not a ghost herself. He's had trouble with befriending ghosts in the past, not realizing they're ghosts right away.

The two friends start to explore the theater and find themselves involved in a ceremonial ritual meant to release angry demons from their spirithood. If the ceremony finishes, these evil ghosts can come back to life more powerful and deadly than when they were first alive.

While this was a fun entry in a ghost series, I didn't find the story as gripping or as interesting as The Crossroads (there is one tie-in in this book with a ghost from the Crossroads...I thought that was pretty cool--very insignificant to the plot, but a fun tidbit). I guess the sacrificial ceremony plot just didn't grip me as much as the ghost story of the first one. I did like the appearance of Zack's mom's ghost though (I won't say more, I don't want to give too much away). I believe it really helped in developing Zack's character a bit more and helping him become more confident to move on from the past. The book was fun overall and I'm sure middle-grade readers will enjoy it immensely. I do hope that Grabenstein continues the series. I'll be sure to keep reading to see if he can top The Crossroads, at least in my mind.

This is book #2 for the R.I.P. IV Reading Challenge. Two down, two to go for this challenge. I think I might actually make it with this one!! ;-)

BBAW Day #5 - Last giveaway!

My last giveaway for Book Blogger Appreciation Week is for two books (one winner receives both), courtesy of Hachette Group. Both are geared toward parents and have really, really long titles.

If Your Kid Eats This Book, Everything Will Still Be Okay: How to Know If Your Child's Injury or Illness Is Really an Emergency by Lara Zibners: This is the book to reach for when your child collides with the coffee table and is bleeding from the scalp or has a fever at 3:00 in the morning. Zibners is an emergency room pediatrician (and also has an excellent sense of humor), so she knows when your child needs a trip to the emergency room. She covers all body parts and emphasizes prevention (while making it easy to determine whether symptoms are ER-worthy in the middle of the night. This is not a cover-to-cover book, but a handy, reassuring reference for parents (especially first-time parents).

Smart Mama's Green Guide: Simple Steps to Reduce Your Child's Toxic Chemical Exposure by Jennifer Taggert: This book empowers the parent looking to reduce exposure to toxic chemicals with practical advice on everything from selecting flooring to deciding what's for dinner. Recipes for nontoxic cleaning supplies are also included. If the tone is sometimes a bit on the alarmist side and the statistics and side effects make the reader's eyes start to glaze over, there are still excellent tips here. The sheer volume of toxic chemicals in the average household is overwhelming; readers will want to focus their energies on implementing small changes.

The Rules:

To enter:
+1 just by leaving a comment on this post AND sharing a parenting tip or a green living tip
+2 if you subscribe to our blog through a feed
+3 if you already subscribe to our blog
+4 if you blog about this giveaway and link to us.

--Please leave ALL entries in ONE comment, not separate comments!
--Be sure to leave your email address in the comment. Entries without email addresses will be discarded.
--Open to only US/Canada residents
--Giveaway ends Friday, September 30th at midnight EDT, winner will be emailed directly.