Teaser Tuesdays-A Despicable Profession

Monday 4 October, 2010 by 37 Comments

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

“But Victor Jacobson was a commissioned espionage officer who didn’t like me one bit.  Was this some sort of payback for my wartime failure to get myself killed?”

Page 15, A Despicable Profession by John Knoerle

What are you reading?

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Book Review: A Season of Seduction by Jennifer Haymore

Monday 4 October, 2010 by 3 Comments


Title: A Season of Seduction
Author: Jennifer Haymore
Publisher: Forever
Publication Date: September 28, 2010
Paperback: 416 pages
ISBN: 978-0446540285
Genre: Fiction, Romance

From the Publisher:

Although the widowed Lady Rebecca has sworn off marriage, men are another matter. London’s cold winter nights have her dreaming of warmer pursuits-like finding a lover to satisfy her hungry heart. Someone handsome, discreet, and most importantly as uninterested in marriage as she is. Someone like Jack Fulton.

A known adventurer and playboy, Jack seems like the perfect choice. There’s just one problem: Jack isn’t interested in an affair. He needs the beautiful, mysterious Lady Rebecca to be his wife. And he doesn’t have much time to persuade her. A secret from Jack’s past is about to surface, and by Christmas Day he’ll be either married to Rebecca or dead.

My Review:

A rogue, a widower, and secrets surround A Season of Seduction by Jennifer Haymore. The book opens in 1837 London where the reader is introduced to Lady Rebecca; a widower who has kept herself closed off and is now looking, not for love, but rather, looking for excitement.  Jack Fulton, recently home from being away at sea is searching for a lovely woman with money, for money is what he thinks he is most desperately in need of by Christmas.  Both Rebecca and Jack are no strangers to misery; they both have lived with their fair share, which makes what Jack is thinking of doing all the more troubling, but I cannot go into more detail. Why spoil one of the many intriguing threads in this delightfully complex book?  Haymore writes a clever novel with a well-rounded cast of characters both major and minor while offering her readers a charming, intelligent, and wounded heroine in Lady Rebecca.  While reading A Season of Seduction I found myself unable to set the book down, as I needed to know what was going to occur next.  Haymore has crafted a clever plot with enough surprise twists to keep the reader thoroughly engaged as well as mesmerized by 19th century London and the numerous secrets to be unveiled throughout the novel.    I would recommend A Season of Seduction to all readers as it has a bit of something for everyone and a rather enjoyable way to begin thinking of the holiday season.

About the Author:

I’ve been writing since I could pick up a pencil….

Wait, no…that’s what every other writer says! I started writing just before my eighth birthday, and it wasn’t on my own volition. I was sailing with my family in a 42-foot sailboat across the Pacific, and since there were no local schools (except those pertaining to fish) nearby, my mother homeschooled me. She was a strict taskmaster! A veritable slave driver! She demanded a new story every day.

So I’d sit in the boat’s galley and write. And stare out the porthole, and write some more. And doodle, and write some more. By the time we arrived in Hawaii the following year, I had a portfolio of stories, and I was hooked. Since then I haven’t stopped. (Well, much. I did take breaks now and then, for things like college, young kids, and a master’s degree.)

I love to read just as much as I love to write, and actually the reading bug hit me at about the same time my mom was cracking the whip over my head and commanding me to write. What else to occupy your time with when there are no other kids to play with and nothing to do but stare at the endless sea? Some of my most recent favorites: The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, River God by Wilbur Smith, and anything by Laura Kinsale and Loretta Chase.

I received a complimentary copy of A Season of Seduction by Jennifer Haymore from Hachette. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.


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Book Review: A Memory Between Us by Sarah Sundin

Monday 4 October, 2010 by 8 Comments

Title: A Memory Between US
Author: Sarah Sundin
Publisher: Revell
Publication Date: September 1, 2010
Paperback: 439 pages
ISBN: 978-0800734220
Genre: Fiction, Historical Romance

From the Publisher:

Can they overcome the past to find a brighter future together?

Major Jack Novak has never failed to meet a challenge–until he meets army nurse Lieutenant Ruth Doherty. When Jack lands in the army hospital after a plane crash, he makes winning Ruth’s heart a top-priority mission. But he has his work cut out for him. Not only is Ruth focused on her work in order to support her orphaned siblings back home, she also is determined not to give her heart to any man.

As the danger and tension of World War II rise to a fever pitch, Jack and Ruth will need each other more than ever. Can Jack break down her defenses? Or are they destined to go their separate ways?

From the English countryside to the perilous skies over France, A Memory Between Us takes you on a journey through love, forgiveness, and sacrifice.

My Review:

A Memory Between Us by Sarah Sundin, the second book in the Wings of Glory series, takes place during WWII, and follows the lives of three brothers beginning with A Distant Melody.  A Memory Between Us is a beautiful, gripping and heartfelt story of army nurse Ruth Doherty and Major Jack Novak.  With detailed descriptions ranging from makeshift hospitals to B-17 Bombers, Sundin deftly takes the reader back in time to the dangers, shortages, fear, and pride in those fighting and assisting in WWII.  Sundin’s characters are expertly created, flawed, imperfect and extremely relatable.  Ruth is courageous and full of spirit even while working amidst fighting and fearing for the safety of those left at home.  Jack will win the readers hearts, but will he win Ruth’s?  There is a gentle underlying Christian theme to Sundin’s series and I hope those who shy away from Christian novels give A Memory Between Us a chance, for I believe it just may change the perception some have of Christian books.  A Memory Between Us is a riveting historical fiction novel, filled with WWII facts intermingled with fictitious characters and life-changing questions taking the reader through a wide range of emotions and experiences as the characters learn about love, hope, how to let go of guilt and to find redemption.  I would recommend A Memory Between Us to any reader looking for a nice historical fiction book to read as well as recommend it to book discussion groups.

About the Author:

Sarah Sundin is an on-call hospital pharmacist and holds a BS in chemistry from UCLA and a doctorate in pharmacy from UC San Francisco. Her great-uncle flew with the US Eighth Air Force in England during WWII. Sarah lives in California with her husband and three children. This is her first novel. For more info please visit her website.

Follow the blog tour here.

Contest:
Sarah Sundin presents The Movies and Memories Giveaway in honor of book 2 in the Wings of Glory series. To celebrate Sarah is giving one lucky winner A Movie and Memory Prize
Package!

One grand prize winner will receive:

* Make-your-own-photo book from Mypublisher.com (Capture your own
Memories)

* Netflix Subscription (New or Nostalgic Movies delivered right to your house)

* Starbucks gift card (To keep your engine revvin’)

*Gourmet chocolate (A favorite in the 1940’s and now)
* British specialty teas in carved wooden box (Timeless tradition)

* Miniature model of a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber & C-47 cargo plane
(Everyone needs a few toy planes)

*Big Band music CD (Break out your dancing shoes)

* WWII authentic poster playing cards (Cards – a perfect game for two)

* Keep Calm and Carry On (Uplifting sayings WWII, a boost for troubled times)

To enter simple click on the icons below (contest runs 9/27 – 10/17!)

I received a complimentary copy of A Memory Between Us by Sarah Sundin from Litfuse. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.


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