Teaser Tuesday: Shades of Blue

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB ofShould 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!

My teaser comes from Shades of Blue by Karen Kingsbury (this is the book I am reading for the 

p66 The white wooden marker was visible if someone was looking for it, but otherwise she doubted many people noticed it. ... She stooped down and touched her fingers to the rough-hewn wood.

Musing Monday: July 26th

MizB over at Should Be Reading hosts Musing Mondays.  This is what I was asked to ponder this week.

Do you review books? If so, for who?

If not, have you ever thought about doing so? Why, or why not?

I realize the question being asked probably refers to publishing companies or such, but I wanted to state that I started reviewing when I became interested in Reading Challenges here in blog land.  I decided if I was going to read the books I wanted to review them too, so I could share my "thoughts, inspirations and weird ideas gleaned from each book" as I stated at the top of my blog.  

As I learned more about blogging and books I discovered that people get to keep free copies of books if they review the books for certain publishers.  I joined BookSneeze and thought it would be great if I could get these free books as I could then donate them to our church library if I felt the book was a good book.  You know, share the wealth.  I have yet to finish the first book I received though because I keep getting introduced to really good books through all these blogs I hop to.  I have tried getting a hold of other publishers, but I have never heard back from any of them.

Now, to ask a question.  If someone knows the answer I would appreciate if you could contact me in my comments.  I have seen that some people review books and then have a copy to do a giveaway with.  How do you get those extra books to give away?  Do only certain publishers offer that? Just wondering, thanks for your help.

Friday Fun July 23

Jennifer, over at Crazy For Books hosts Book Blogger Hop

In the spirit of the Twitter Friday Follow, the Book Blogger Hop is a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and find new book-related blogs that we may be missing out on!  This weekly BOOK PARTY is an awesome opportunity for book bloggers to connect with other book lovers, make new friends, support each other, and generally just share our love of books!  It will also give blog readers a chance to find other book blogs that they may not know existed!  So, grab the logo, post about the Hop on your blog, and start HOPPING through the list of blogs that are posted in the Linky list below!!


The Hop lasts Friday-Monday every week, so if you don't have time to Hop today, come back later and join the fun!  This is a weekly event!  And stop back throughout the weekend to see all the new blogs that are added!  We get over 200 links every week!! 


Your blog should have content related to books, including, but not limited to book reviews.

If you start following someone through the Hop, leave a comment on their blog to let them know!  Stop back during the week to see other blogs that are added!  And, most importantly, the idea is to HAVE FUN!!

RULES:  (in hopes of simplifying things for everyone!)

1.  Enter your book blog link in the Linky List below (be sure to include how long you've been blogging and what genres you review!).  

• If you have been blogging 3 months or less, please note that you are a NEW blogger!
• If you post about the Hop on your blog, please link directly to your Hop post (don't forget to answer this week's question - see below!).

2.  Visit other blogs in the Linky List!  Make new friends!  Follow new book bloggers!  Talk about books!  Rave about authors! (Please do not leave your link and not visit other blogs - it's just not cool and not in the spirit of the Hop!)

3.  Post about the Hop on  your blog!  Spread the word about the book party!  The more the merrier!

4. In your blog post, answer the following question (new question each week!):  

TELL US ABOUT THE BOOK YOU ARE CURRENTLY READING!

I am currently reading "One By One" by Gilbert Morris.  This is a Christian Suspense/Mystery that will be counted toward my Thriller/Suspense Challenge.  The first chapter or so was a little slow, but now I am having a hard time putting the book down.  Dani Ross is a detective working for her father's agency and she becomes a hostage, along with 11 others, of someone they don't even know. Supposedly there is one thing they all have in common that they are guilty of that they need to confess.

MizB over at Should Be Reading hosts Friday Finds

What great books did you hear about/discover this past week? Share with us your FRIDAY FINDS! 

Definitely hopping around to other blogs has expanded my reading list.  I discovered a book called Savannah from Savannah by Denise Hildreth at a blog last week.  It is waiting for me here on my desk.  

And Tonya over at Storytime with Tonya and Friends hosts Friday 56

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blogor (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
*Post a link along with your post back to this blog.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

My Friday 56 is from The Secret of Red Gate Farm by Carolyn Keene.

"Nancy found two pieces of heavy burlap.  Bess and George put them in front of the two back wheels for traction.  Then they gathered and broke up some brush to make a mat for each tire."

W...W...W...Wednesdays

MizB as Should be Reading hosts this weekly event.  I decided to join in again this week, though a couple of hours late, typical me.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

* What are you currently reading?
* What did you recently finish reading?
* What do you think you’ll read next?

Here are my answers:

I am currently reading "One By One" by Gilbert Morris. It is a Christian suspense/mystery book.  I have the second book in the series.  Looking at Amazon it looks like there are more in the series but I don't know if I will be able to find them as some of them seem to have newer editions while the last 2 don't.  I am seeing 6 books total, not sure though.  I know our church library has more books by Gilbert Morris, but I have never read his work before.  So far this book is pretty good.  According to the back cover she takes over the detective agency for her dad because he is ill.  "Then while pursuing a new case, Dani becomes a victim herself.  She awakens in a strange place and finds herself surrounded by eleven other people...all clueless as to why they have been brought together."

I recently finished reading  "The Mystery at Lilac Inn" my favorite in the Nancy Drew series so far.  Only being on book four, I am not sure if I will get all of them read and complete the challenge, luckily it only takes me a day or two to read them. I gave this one 5 stars, here's  my review.

Right before that one I finished "Marked" by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast.  It was quite disappointing.  Here is my review, I only gave this one 1 star.  I decided not to complete Betrayed as I thought I would last week.  I will share why in a separate post.

I will probably read "And Then There Were Two" by Gilbert Morris (the second Dani Ross mystery).  And I need to start "Shades of Blue" by Karen Kingsbury for the Christian Fiction Book of the Month Club.  Additionally, I really need to start "Storm Warning" by Billy Graham for my Booksneeze review.

Review: The Mystery at Lilac Inn

This is the 4th Nancy Drew mystery in the series.  This story opens, once again, with Nancy and her friend Helen finding themselves in the water after having something to the boat they are in.  Not that that is a big deal, I am just trying to keep track of such things.  They are on their way to help a friend prepare for her wedding and find themselves involved in a mystery of strange happenings at the inn.  A twist in this one is that someone is impersonating Nancy and the reader doesn't know why.  How is it related to the strange things happening at the inn?  How come it seems that Nancy is involved even before she arrives at the inn and finds out that items are coming up missing? 
Nancy was in quite a bit of peril in this book.  It took me a while to figure out who was the "villian" in this story. I kept suspecting others.  This one definitely is the best so far. 
5 stars

Teaser Tuesday: The Mystery At Lilac Inn

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB ofShould 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!

My teaser:

"Nancy's face remained serious.  'I like him, too.  But-well, Helen has a feeling he's at the inn for some other purpose than just helping Em and Dick.'"

p. 106 The Mystery at Lilac Inn by Carolyn Keene

Musing Monday: July 19th

This week’s musing asks…

What does your bookshelf (or, what do your bookshelves) say about you to the people who come into your home?

Well, most of my bookshelves are upstairs and most people wouldn't be seeing them, but if they found themselves upstairs for some odd reason they would see that I seem to be into reading Christian non fiction.  This is deceptive, however, because most of the Christian non-fiction books on my bookshelf in my bedroom  are unread.  I have had good intentions, but my priorities get skewed.  I get interested in a fiction book or series of books, and as they are easier for me to read I neglect the ones that may actually be more meaningful in my life.
You would also see that I tend to pick up books I think I might need for homeschooling later on, as I have a full bookshelf of homeschooling books and my girls are only 3, 2, and 3 months.
Another thing you would see is shelves full of Christian fiction.  These too are covered in dust, as are the non-fiction books above, I am sure. But they have been read.  I used to be one to reread books, but lately I have been reading more from the library.  And that is what you would see downstairs.  The books you see would show that I do not limit my choices just to one certain type of book.  I don't just read Christian fiction, but I try to be careful on my choices. It also shows that I love to read to my children.  And it also shows that I am not very tidy/organized, as they are just stacked on the box.

Head on over to Should Be Reading to check out other's Musing Mondays