Top Ten Tuesday

This is my first Top Ten Tuesday.  :)

Top Ten Tuesday was started by The Broke and the Bookish. Every Tuesday there’s a different topic. 

This week's Topic is:  

Top Ten All Time Favorite Authors

It is difficult to choose ten, but My Top Ten Favorite Authors in no particular order are below:

1.  Kate Morton - love all of her books.  My favorite is THE FORGOTTEN GARDEN.  THE FORGOTTEN GARDEN  was pre-blog so no review, but I also liked THE SECRET KEEPER.

2.  William Kent Kruger - ORDINARY GRACE and TAMARACK COUNTY were quite good.

3.  Lucinda Riley - love her books.  My favorite is THE LAVENDER GARDEN.

4.  Renee Rosen - loved both of her books that I read.  DOLLFACE and WHAT THE LADY WANTS.

5.  Pam Jenoff - I met her at the BEA...lovely person.  I have read almost all of her books and she has a new one out.  Can't wait to read it.  Here is one I have reviewed on my blog THE WINTER GUEST.  

6.  Todd Borg - Awesome mystery/thrillers.  I am quoted in his book TAHOE TRAP. Another good book by Mr. Borg is TAHOE CHASE.

7.  Beth Hoffman - You must read her books. LOOKING FOR ME is just as wonderful as SAVING CEECEE HONEYCUTT. SAVING CEECEE HONEYCUTT was pre-blog days so no review, but I think everyone knows the book.

8.  Bette Lee Crosby - All of her books are superb.  Here a few:  THE TWELFTH CHILD and PASSING THROUGH PERFECT.

9.  Karen White - she is awesome.  I am reading her newest book, THE SOUND OF GLASS....very good.  I loved these books:  A LONG TIME GONE, THE TIME BETWEEN.

10.  Barbara Davis - loved her book, THE WISHING TIDE.

The #the100dayproject - Are You Joining In The Fun?

 #the100dayproject

Over on Instagram, there’s a #the100dayproject where users are challenged to do a project of their choosing for 100 consecutive days. 

Atria Books is joining the challenge by pulling one line from page 100 of a different book.

Follow along by following @Atriabooks on Instagram!

Here’s Day’s 1 challenge: 

Atria Books' first line comes from Colleen Hoover, #1 New York Times bestselling author of CONFESS.

Send Atria Books your Instagram links if you plan on joining, and Atria Books will follow you!

 

Follow Friday Four Fill-In Fun - 4/17/15

 

Love this meme....I hope you can join in the fun.  

Each week, Feeling Beachie lists four statements with a blank for you to fill in on your own blogs.  

The statements: 

1. If I _______________I'd change ____________
2. I'd rather __________ somewhere than ___________
3. Seeing_____ makes me_______.
4. Could you still______ after___

My Answers:

1.  If I could read faster, I'd change a lot in my life.

2.  I'd rather read somewhere than go to a movie.

3.  Seeing shelves and shelves of books makes me happy.

4.  Could you still read a book after you heard bad things about it?

GUESS THE DESK GIVEAWAY

“Guess the Desk” 

This author, shares her own beautiful—and enviable writing area! With the streaming light hitting the desk, how could you not envy the life of a writer, as you are bathed in the warm sun?
 

Guess whose BEAUTIFUL desk this is and win a copy of her book.

The answer is pretty obvious as you continue to read this post.  :)

Soooo...simply enter for a chance to win.

Entry form is at the bottom of this post.

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This desk gives us insight into her own life, as trinkets scatter the table: An “N,” a computer case from a Liberian cement bag, rocks from a beach in British Columbia (“our home for six years”), a globe from 1950…

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nicole Baart is the mother of four children from four different countries. The co-founder of a non-profit organization, One Body One Hope, she lives in a small town in Iowa. She is the author of seven previous novels, including, most recently, Sleeping in Eden. Find out more at NicoleBaart.com.

 The Beautiful Daughters by Nicole Baart

Atria Books | 352 pages | ISBN 978-1-4391-9738-7 | April 28, 2015 | $16.00

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Enter here

APRIL 15 to APRIL 22

USA ONLY

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Quebec City and A Louise Penny Tour

My son and I visited Quebec City this past weekend with our weekend ending with a very informative Louise Penny Tour featuring her book, BURY YOUR DEAD.

What a beautiful city and what lovely people.  French is the main language spoken, but if you do not speak French, no worries.  Everyone begins speaking to you in French, but when they realize you do not speak their native language, they immediately begin speaking to you in perfect, fluent English.

Quebec City is very quaint, and you will think you are in Europe.

We stayed in a beautiful hotel, Le Chateau Frontenac, and the second day we were there the weather cooperated with a balmy 60 degrees.  There were still remnants of snow on most streets, though.  They had gotten 11 feet of snow over the course of the past winter.

Here is a view from our hotel room. The St. Lawrence River is in the foreground with the melting ice moving at a rapid pace.  The ice is something tourists come to see.

We also attended Sunday mass at Notre Dame de Quebec which was a bit of a challenge since it was in French.  :)

Moving on to the Louis Penny tour.  We had a fantastic tour guide named Francois who spoke PERFECT English even though his native language as all of Quebec City is French.

He was an excellent guide and took us on a tour to the different places in Louise Penny's book, BURY YOUR DEAD.  Francois gave us very informative background facts about the city as well as Louise Penny and showed us all the places she used in the city for scenes in her book.  She actually lived in Quebec City for a few months to do her research.

The best part of the tour was the library that Louise Penny used as the place where the body was found in her book, BURY YOUR DEAD.

The plaque below is on the outside wall of the library.

Here is a photo of my son and I in the library that houses books which are all surprisingly in English.  All books are able to be checked out. Isn't the library beautiful?

A few photos we snapped while in the library.  The "old" books were encased in glass book cases, and were not able to be checked out of the system.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_James_Douglas,_1st_Baronet

I hope you get to visit Quebec City some day, and I hope you enjoy your visit as much as we did.

Quebec City has a European flair, but with a much shorter plane ride for a nice getaway.  :)

 

AND......THE WINNER IS KAREN

 

A FIFTEEN-MINUTE Giveaway of EVERY FIFTEEN MINUTES by Lisa Scottoline AND other prizes

 

THE WINNER IS:

KAREN - #20

CONGRATS!!!

I will send Karen an e-mail so I can get her mailing address to send to the publisher.

THANKS to everyone who entered this awesome giveaway!!

Banner courtesy of:

http://www.teamsterslocal743.com/index.cfm?zone=/unionactive/view_article.cfm&homeID=484516

A FIFTEEN MINUTE Giveaway of EVERY FIFTEEN MINUTES by Lisa Scottoline AND other prizes

 

EVERY FIFTEEN MINUTES

By Lisa Scottoline

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Listen to the excerpt at the URL below to see if you want to enter the giveaway.  

I am sure you will.  :)

https://soundcloud.com/macaudio-2/every-fifteen-minutes-by-lisa-scottoline-chapter-1  

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Enter the giveaway for EVERY FIFTEEN MINUTES, and win the prizes listed next to my name.  

You can enter the giveaway on EVERY blog.

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CONTEST has ended.

The Winner is:

Karen - #20 

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MY Entry link is here and also below all the listed blogs.

USA ONLY

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Stop by as many blogs as you can for the different prizes.

I hope these are the best 15 minute-time slots of your day!!!

I will choose the winner during my time slot, and you will know who the winner is instantly on April 14.  :)

BEST OF LUCK!!

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EVERY FIFTEEN MINUTES – BLOG TOUR

Group 1 (11:00AM – 12:00PM)

• Traveling with T – 11:00AM – EFM + 1 Keep Quiet
• Liz & Lisa – 11:15AM – EFM + 1 Don’t Go
• Silver's Reviews – 11:30AM – EFM + 1 Come Home
• Harlequin Junkie – 11:45AM – EFM + $25 Visa gift card

Group 2 (1:00PM – 2:00PM) 

• Good Books and Good Wine – 1:00PM – EFM + $25 Visa gift card
• No More Grumpy Bookseller – 1:15PM – EFM + 1 Look Again
• kritters ramblings – 1:30PM – EFM + 1 Save Me
• Anita Loves Books – 1:45PM – EFM + 1 Keep Quiet

Group 3 (3:00PM – 4:00PM)

• Booking Mama – 3:00PM – EFM + $25 Visa gift card
• A Southern Girl's Bookshelf  – 3:15PM – EFM + 1 Don’t Go
• Life is Story – 3:30PM – EFM + 1 Come Home
• Jenn’s Bookshelves – 3:45PM – EFM + $25 Visa gift card

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Enter here for my giveaway.

USA ONLY

Giveaway courtesy of Mitali Dave from Macmillan Audio.

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New York Times bestselling author

Read by George Newbern

Tom Fortez is a psychiatrist with a successful private practice and a loving wife and daughter. He’s held in high esteem at the prestigious psychiatric hospital and on the national book-and-lecture circuit. One of his most complex patients is Mike Browning, a brilliant but disturbed young man who has begun to exhibit violent delusions directed at the employees of the insurance company from which he was recently fired. He’s particularly focused on a young woman who spurned his advances, and he’s made statements about her in his therapy sessions that make Tom concerned for her safety. Tom is struggling to decide whether to breach the confidentiality of his patient (thus thwarting his efforts at treatment) by going to the police when Browning goes missing. And then the woman in question is found raped and murdered in her apartment complex. Tom immediately goes to the police to report what he knows, and suddenly finds himself in the headlines, the target of scorn and anger throughout the community. The nightmare only gets worse when Browning takes hostages at the insurance company. As Tom investigates on his own he finds clues that Browning may not have committed the rape and murder, and he must hurry to solve the murder and stop Browning from killing any hostages before time runs out.   

"Scottoline knows how to keep readers in her grip."

—The New York Times Book Review

George Newbern’s narration brings Scottoline’s already gripping thriller to an almost unbearable level of suspense. Newbern’s expert skill set is evident--he seamlessly maintains the tension between Fortez and Browning up until the very end.

LISA SCOTTOLINE is a New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award–winning author of twenty-one novels. She has served as President of Mystery Writers of America, and she is a weekly columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Her columns have been collected in four books and optioned for television. She has 30 million copies of her books in print in the United States, and she has been published in thirty countries. She lives in the Philadelphia area with an array of disobedient pets.

GEORGE NEWBERN is a film and television actor best known for his roles in Father of the Bride and Scandal. A prominent voice-over performer and award winning narrator, Newbern’s previous audiobook credits include several novels by Carl Hiaasen and Seabiscuit by Lauren Hildebrand, among others.