SEATING ARRANGEMENTS: A PREVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

GIVEAWAY ENDED
SEATING ARRANGEMENTS

BY MAGGIE SHIPSTEAD

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Maggie Shipstead’s Seating Arrangements is a stunning debut, an irresistible social satire that is also an unforgettable meditation on the persistence of hope, the yearning for connection, and the promise of enduring love.

Winn Van Meter is heading for his family’s retreat on the pristine New England island of Waskeke. Normally a haven of calm, for the next three days this sanctuary will be overrun by tipsy revelers as Winn prepares for the marriage of his daughter Daphne to the affable young scion Greyson Duff.  Winn’s wife, Biddy, has planned the wedding with military precision, but arrangements are sideswept by a storm of salacious misbehavior and intractable lust: Daphne’s sister, Livia, who has recently had her heart broken by Teddy Fenn, the son of her father’s oldest rival, is an eager target for the seductive wiles of Greyson’s best man; Winn, instead of reveling in his patriarchal duties, is tormented by his long-standing crush on Daphne’s beguiling bridesmaid Agatha; and the bride and groom find themselves presiding over a spectacle of misplaced desire, marital infidelity, and monumental loss of faith in the rituals of American life.

Hilarious, keenly intelligent, and commandingly well written, Shipstead’s deceptively frothy first novel is a piercing rumination on desire, on love and its obligations, and on the dangers of leading an inauthentic life, heralding the debut of an exciting new literary voice.  

AN EXCERPT FROM SEATING ARRANGEMENTS:

One • The Castle of the Maidens

By Sunday the wedding would be over, and for that Winn Van Meter was grateful. It was Thursday. He woke early, alone in his Connecticut house, a few late stars still burning above the treetops. His wife and two daughters were already on Waskeke, in the island house, and as he came swimming up out of sleep, he thought of them in their beds there: Biddy keeping to her side, his daughters’ hair fanned over their pillows. But first he thought of a different girl (or barely thought of her—­she was a bubble bursting on the surface of a dream) who was also asleep on Waskeke. She would be in one of the brass guest beds up on the third floor, under the eaves; she was one of his daughter’s bridesmaids.

Most mornings, Winn’s entries into the waking world were prompt, his torso canting up from the sheets like the mast of a righted sailboat, but on this day he turned off his alarm clock before it could ring and stretched his limbs out to the bed’s four corners. The room was silent, purple, and dim. By nature, he disapproved of lying around. Lost time could not be regained nor missed mornings stored up for later use. Each day was a platform for accomplishment. Up with the sun, he had told his daughters when they were children, whipping off their covers with a flourish and exposing them lying curled like shrimp on their mattresses. Now Daphne was a bride (a pregnant bride, no point in pretending otherwise) and Livia, her younger sister, the maid of honor. The girls and their mother were spending the whole week on the island with an ever-­multiplying bunch of bridesmaids and relatives and future in-­laws, but he had decided he could not manage so much time away from work. Which was true enough. A whole week on the matrimonial front lines would be intolerable, and furthermore, he had no wish to confirm that the bank would rumble on without him, his absence scarcely noticed except by the pin-­striped young sharks who had begun circling his desk with growing determination.

To finish reading this review, visit the Random House Publishing Website HERE. 

PRAISE FOR SEATING ARRANGEMENTS:

“Maggie Shipstead is an outrageously gifted writer, and her assured first novel, Seating Arrangements, is by turns hilarious and deeply moving.”

—Richard Russo, author of That Old Cape Magic

“Seating Arrangements is bursting with perfectly observed characters and unforgettable scenes. This gorgeous, wise, funny, sprawling novel about family, fidelity, and social class, is the best book I've read in ages.”

—Courtney Sullivan, author of Maine

“A pitch-perfect debut from a master storyteller, Seating Arrangements is a rich and deep work: a smart, consuming novel that manages also to be delightfully funny. A romp of a book, with whales and weddings and wealth, it is, at its heart, a warning against the empty seductions of status and exclusivity.”

—Justin Torres, author of We the Animals

“Smart and frothy…Beneath the surface of this summery romp lie animosities, well-paced sexual suspense and a clash between appearances and authenticity…waltzlike.”

—New York Times Book Review

"A sophisticated summer romp...Shipstead's weave of wit and observation continually delights. I wouldn’t be surprised if someday she trades her Lilly Pulitzer for something from Joseph Pulitzer."

—Washington Post

"Whipsmart and engaging...the best kind of smart beach read."

—O Magazine

“Dead-on delightful…a champagne-fueled, saltwater-scented comedy of upper-crust New England manners and mores.”

—National Geographic Traveler

"Irresistible [and] joyously good."

—Daily Mail (UK)

“Elegant, delightful…Shipstead’s sentences simmer and crackle on the page.”

—San Francisco Chronicle

“This is one of those rare debut novels that neither forsakes plot for language nor language for plot. It is gratifying on every scale…The novel is teeming with the sort of casual philosophizing that encourages passage-underlining and earnest recommendation."

—The Boston Globe

“Funny and dark and poignant—sometimes all at once. Shisptead is a gifted storyteller whose richly realized characters and sweetly flowing prose coalesce into a tale that is by parts sweet and sharp, humorous and heartbreaking. It’s an auspicious debut by an undeniably talented writer.”

—The Maine Edge

“Zestful yet acerbic…for all its madcap quirkiness, Shipstead’s adroit escapade artfully delivers a poignant reflection on the enduring if frustrating nature of love, hope, and family."

—Booklist

“Vibrant prose and moments of keen insight.”

—Publishers Weekly

“Delightful…Shipstead writes with clarity and confidence, nimbly dropping into multiple characters’ heads, giving each a distinct voice and point of view but always with great wit and heart. Seating Arrangements brims with sharp observations about love, lust, family, and the real meaning of marital bliss.”

—Entertainment Weekly, A- review

“Impressive…Shipstead’s characters…feel totally true to life.”

—People, Style Watch

“Seating Arrangements delightfully and poignantly upends the WASP idyll, poking holes into the studiously shabby carpets to reveal the limitations of a privileged world that revolves around the same plummy prep-school pedigrees, club memberships and summer havens…through prose that sparkles while it slays.”

—USA Today 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Maggie Shipstead was born in 1983 and grew up in Orange County, California. Her short fiction has appeared in Tin House, VQR, Glimmer Train, The Best American Short Stories, and her story "La Moretta" was a 2012 National Magazine Award finalist. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a recipient of the Stegner Fellowship from Stanford University. She doesn't really know where she lives but is open to suggestions. Her first novel, Seating Arrangements, was published by Knopf on June 12, 2012.

"INTERVIEW" WITH THE AUTHOR:

On your nightstand now:

Wild by Cheryl Strayed, Then Again by Diane Keaton, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain, Uncommon Carriers by John McPhee, The Man of Property by John Galsworthy and Arcadia by Lauren Groff. I like to have a smorgasbord going. My nightstand situation gets precarious.

Favorite books when you were a child:

The Black Stallion series by Walter Farley (Walter Farley was the answer to a pub trivia bonus question that recently won me a free drink, by the way), Madeleine L'Engle's novels, and The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du Bois. Oh, and I can't--absolutely must not--leave out Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh.

Your top five authors:

A random sampling from my top dozen: Jane Austen, John le Carré, John Updike and Jeffrey Eugenides. Apparently I like writers whose first names start with the letter J.

Favorite line from a book:

This isn't a particularly unique choice, but the last line of "The Dead" in Dubliners by James Joyce: "His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead."

I love the sensation of being punched in the gut by a closing line, and that one is a classic knockout. It has movement, musicality, surprise, sadness and beauty. Perfection.

Books you most want to be real:

Um, I would like to attend Hogwarts, please. I genuinely and whole-heartedly love the Harry Potter books (by J.K. Rowling, for any recently arrived Martians). Not only have I read all the hardbacks more than once, but when I was in grad school and drove between Iowa and California 10 times in two years (that's a total of 18,000 miles--I have a dog who needs to be included in all family holidays), the audiobooks absolutely sustained me. My air conditioning failed when I was driving across Nevada on a 105-degree summer afternoon and, faced with the choice of rolling down the windows and getting some breeze or being able to hear my Harry Potter, I chose to swelter and keep listening.

.....Excerpt taken from "Book Brahmin: Maggie Shipstead" from SHELF AWARENESS, June 29, 2012

MY THOUGHTS/REVIEW:
Maggie Sheapstead’s SEATING ARRANGEMENT is not the summer fluff about a wedding that I had expected. Instead, it is more of a characters study about characters that are well written but not easy to like.  The setting is not surprising as it takes place on an island much like Martha’s Vineyard and happened during the three days of wedding festivities for one of the main characters, the bride-to-be, Daphne. Daphne should be happily celebrating this time, but is instead a bit more apprehensive about a problem she has.

There are actually two protagonists. First is that of the father of the bride, Winn Van Meter, who is a banker with no idea the country is going through economic hard times. He and his wife, Biddy (yes, I said Biddy) only are interested in who is going to be attending the wedding and that it goes off well. Winn is an incredibly heartless and selfish man. His actions are hard to believe but it doesn’t keep you from continuing to read about him. The other main character is surprisingly not the bride, Daphne, but rather her younger sister, Livia. Livia got pregnant while away at school and that really annoyed her dear old understanding Dad. Why?.. Because after one too many, she proclaimed for everyone at the Harvard Club to hear, that she was pregnant! Winn was a member there forever and how embarrassing for him was that? How the weekend and wedding go, is the big question as you read on. However, along with that is the question of what will Winn do next to shock, surprise, and disgust the reader. (See? I REALLY didn’t like this person which tells one how well written he was!)

I found Shipstead’s narrative flowed smoothly and her characters were well developed and followed through nicely. Even though Winn is so exasperating, there is such dark humor and sharp, edgy writing that the book works. I will be anxious to see what the author comes up with next as I felt this was a strong debut for a first novel. It begs for lots of discussion so I can see it as a good book club pick.   

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO CATHERINE AT KNOPF AND 

RANDOM HOUSE, I HAVE ONE COPY OF

THIS DELIGHTFUL DEBUT NOVEL FROM

MAGGIE SHIPSTEAD TO GIVE AWAY

 

--U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY
--NO P. O. BOXES, PLEASE
--INCLUDE EMAIL ADDRESS IN COMMENT
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AS MORE THAN ONE ENTRY

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GIVEAWAY ENDS AT

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ARE YOU LISTENING? SHINE, SHINE, SHINE: AN AUDIO BOOK REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

WELCOME TO BOOKIN' WITH BINGO'S" 
ARE YOU LISTENING? DAY" 
I AM EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE TODAY'S 
AUDIO BOOK CHOICE...

GIVEAWAY ENDED
SHINE SHINE SHINE
BY LYDIA NETZER

ABOUT THE BOOK:

When Maxon met Sunny, he was seven years, four months, and eighteen-days old. Or, he was 2693 rotations of the earth old. Maxon was different. Sunny was different. They were different together.

Now, twenty years later, they are married, and Sunny wants, more than anything, to be “normal.” She’s got the housewife thing down perfectly, but Maxon, a genius engineer, is on a NASA mission to the moon,  programming robots for a new colony. Once they were two outcasts who found unlikely love in each other: a wondrous, strange relationship formed from urgent desire for connection. But now they’re parents to an autistic son. And Sunny is pregnant again. And her mother is dying in the hospital. Their marriage is on the brink of imploding, and they’re at each other’s throats with blame and fear. What exactly has gone wrong?

Sunny wishes Maxon would turn the rocket around and come straight-the-hell home.

When an accident in space puts the mission in peril, everything Sunny and Maxon have built hangs in the balance. Dark secrets, long-forgotten murders, and a blond wig all come tumbling to the light. And nothing will ever be the same.…

A debut of singular power and intelligence, Shine Shine Shine is a unique love story, an adventure between worlds, and a stunning novel of love, death, and what it means to be human.

 

AN EXCERPT FROM SHINE SHINE SHINE:

Deep in darkness, there was a tiny light. Inside the light, he floated in a spaceship. It felt cold to him, floating there. Inside his body, he felt the cold of space. He could still look out the round windows of the rocket and see the Earth. He could also see the moon sometimes, coming closer. The Earth rotated slowly and the spaceship moved slowly, relative to the things that were around it. There was nothing he could do now, one way or the other. He was part of a spaceship going to the moon. He wore white paper booties instead of shoes. He wore a jumpsuit instead of underwear. He was only a human, of scant flesh and long bone, eyes clouded, and body breakable. He was off, launched from the Earth, and floating in space. He had been pushed, with force, away.

But in his mind, Maxon found himself thinking of home. With his long feet drifting out behind him, he put his hands on each side of the round window, and held on to it. He looked out and down at the Earth. Far away, across the cold miles, the Earth lay boiling in clouds. All the countries of the Earth lay smudged together under that lace of white. Beneath this stormy layer, the cities of this world chugged and burned, connected by roads, connected by wires. Down in Virginia, his wife, Sunny, was walking around, living and breathing. Beside her was his small son. Inside her was his small daughter. He couldn’t see them, but he knew they were there.

This is the story of an astronaut who was lost in space, and the wife he left behind. Or this is the story of a brave man who survived the wreck of the first rocket sent into space with the intent to colonize the moon.

To finish reading this excerpt, visit the Macmillan website HERE.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

LYDIA NETZER was born in Detroit and educated in the Midwest. She lives in Virginia with her two home-schooled children and math-making husband. When she isn’t teaching, reading, or writing her next novel, she plays the guitar in a rock band. 

PRAISE FOR SHINE SHINE SHINE:

“Over the moon with a metaphysical spin.  Heart-tugging…it is struggling to understand the physical realities of life and the nature of what makes us human….Nicely unpredictable…Extraordinary.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times
 
“A funny, compelling love story from the freshest voice I’ve heard in years. Shine Shine Shine picked me up and left me changed in ways I never expected. Intelligent, emotional, and relentlessly new, Netzer answers questions you didn't know you were already asking and delivers an unforgettable take on what it means to love, to be a mother, and to be human.” —Sara Gruen, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Water for Elephants and Ape House

“From the icy dead surface of the moon to the hot center of the human heart, Lydia Netzer's debut novel takes you on a rocket ride that will rattle your bones. Part science fiction, part pure magic of the human kind, Netzer makes a book that is wholly her own, and endlessly fascinating. At every turn, you think she cannot astonish you again, and then she does it one more time. And then again and again and again. This is an astounding first novel by a writer who is unique in her immense gifts.” —Robert Goolrick, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Reliable Wife

"Creating one of the most compelling protagonists I’ve read in a long time, Lydia Netzer manages to capture the outsider in each of us. Whether looking at the moon, a child, the suburban landscape, or the face in the mirror, Netzer shows us something we’ve never seen before, something we thought we knew. A beautifully written story where the exception proves the rule: the things that seem to divide us are, ultimately, the very things that unite us." —Brunonia Barry, New York Times bestselling author of The Lace Reader and The Map of True Places.

“A perfectly structured gem of a book that held me spellbound as I unraveled the twisted histories of this unconventional family. You’ve never read anything like it, and yet Sunny’s story is every woman’s story. We are all outsiders, all alone in space, all trying so hard to find a place called home. I loved this book.” —Joshilyn Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of Gods in Alabama and Backseat Saints

“An astronaut, an autistic child, a bald woman and a meteor collide, churning up the ground around a couple of decades-old murders. Life and death intersect in this wildly inventive love story I will be talking about and thinking about for years to come. If Yann Martel and Mary Gaitskill had a literary baby, it would look a lot like Lydia Netzer.” —Karen Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of Sin in the Second City and American Rose

"Netzer deftly illuminates the bonds that transcend shortcomings and tragedy. Characterized by finely textured emotions and dramatic storytelling, Netzer's world will draw readers happily into its orbit." —Publishers Weekly

"Netzer has beautifully crafted an original story with a cast of characters who make up an unconventional but strangely believable family...This story will shine, shine, shine for all adult readers." —Library Journal, starred review

MY THOUGHTS/REVIEW:
Lydia Netzer’s spellbinding debut, SHINE SHINE SHINE, is one quirky and enjoyable story made up of many surprising, inspirational parts that all eventually come together like a completed puzzle. With the main characters of Sunny, Maxon, and Bubber, readers will be taken on a ride into a somewhat different world, with a touch of science fiction, but also a lot of rational foundation and great deal of heart. The novel's main premise is that by accepting who you are instead of trying to hide your faults, one can achieve happiness.

Readers will meet Sunny Mann who outwardly seems to have it all. Married to Maxon, the genius and Nobel Prize Winner who is on his way to the moon, they have a young son, Bubber, and a new baby on the way. Living in a lovely suburban home, Sunny is the neighborhood organizer extraordinaire and school head honcho for projects.  In space, Maxon Mann is hurtling toward the moon to set things up for a lunar colony to be inhabited by his robots.

When a car hits Sunny’s van, her secret is exposed as her blonde wig goes flying out the window with all the neighbors bearing witness. As the narrative progresses, Sunny gets “wigged out” as a series of events reveal the truth behind her baldness and this seemingly perfect family. This includes the parents’ opposing attitudes on how their autistic son, Bubber,  should be raised.

Through the use of flashbacks, Netzer reveals the history of the dramatic bald girl and the quiet mathematical phenom. They bonded through their individual needs, showing how Sunny helped Maxon to let go of his feelings and how his orderly ways provided a stability Sunny yearned for.  Theirs is a curious, fairy tale love story, but one that is very real for them. Also in the flashbacks, we learn of Sunny’s way of dealing with her baldness as well as the influence her mother had on her current relationship with her own son, Bubber.

Netzer’s creative and dynamic narrative style yields brilliantly developed characters, including some very interesting supporting roles. All this comes into play when the story line builds and both Sunny and Maxon face critical and disastrous situations.

SHINE SHINE SHINE is a positive examination of humanity and what we perceive to be the norm. It shows how two rather unconventional people can fall in love, get married, and lead what for them is a normal life. Even if their world doesn’t happen to fit into the box that is pigeon holed for them, it can still be gratifying and successful. In the end, readers will have enjoyed a very fresh and captivating story. Do give Netzer’s novel a chance as I don’t think you will be disappointed. It took me a few minutes of listening and then I was hooked and couldn’t stop!

 GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO ESTHER AND MY FRIENDS AT

MACMILLAN AUDIO, I HAVE ONE COPY OF 

SHINE SHINE SHINE BY LYDIA NETZER,

TO GIVE AWAY TO ONE LUCKY FOLLOWER

 

--U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY
--NO P. O. BOXES, PLEASE
--INCLUDE EMAIL ADDRESS IN COMMENT
--ALL ENTRIES/COMMENTS MUST BE
SEPARATE IN ORDER TO COUNT
AS MORE THAN ONE ENTRY

HOW TO ENTER:

+1 ENTRY: READ ABOUT THE AUDIO BOOK ABOVE AND COMMENT ON SOMETHING YOU FOUND INTERESTING ABOUT SHINE SHINE SHINE THAT WOULD MAKE YOU WANT TO WIN THIS AUDIO BOOK

+1 MORE ENTRY: BLOG OR TWEET ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY AND LEAVE A LINK I CAN FOLLOW IN THE ENTRY

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON SOMETHING YOU FIND INTERESTING AT LYDIA NETZER'S BLOG HERE

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DREAM NEW DREAMS BY JAI PAUSCH: A REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

 GIVEAWAY ENDED
DREAM NEW DREAMS

Reimagining My Life After Loss

BY JAI PAUSCH

ABOUT THE BOOK:

A remarkably frank, deeply moving, and inspiring memoir by Jai Pausch, whose husband, Randy, wrote the bestseller The Last Lecture while battling pancreatic cancer.

"Jai is such a giver that she often forgets to take care of herself," Randy Pausch wrote about his wife. "Jai knows that she’ll have to give herself permission to make herself a priority."
    
In Dream New Dreams, Jai Pausch shares her own story for the first time: her emotional journey from wife and mother to full-time caregiver, shuttling between her three young children and Randy’s bedside as he sought treatment far from home; and then to widow and single parent, fighting to preserve a sense of stability for her family, while coping with her own grief and the challenges of running a household without a partner.

Jai paints a vivid, honest portrait of a vital, challenging relationship between two strong people who faced a grim prognosis and the self-sacrificing decisions it often required. As she faced life without the husband she called her “magic man,” Jai learned to make herself a priority to create a new life of hope and happiness—as she puts it, to “feel a spark of my own magic beginning to flicker.”
    
Dream New Dreams is a powerful story of grief, healing, and newfound independence. With advice artfully woven into an intimate, beautifully written narrative, Jai’s story will inspire not only the legions of readers who made The Last Lecture a bestseller, but also those who are embarking on a journey of loss and renewal themselves. 

PRAISE FOR DREAM NEW DREAMS:

“A brave and beautiful book. Dream New Dreams grabbed my heart from the opening page and didn't let go until its uplifting end.  Jai Pausch is a stirring example of the power of life to triumph over any challenge. Bravo.”--Bruce Feiler, bestselling author of Walking the Bible and The Council of Dads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

JAI PAUSCH became an impassioned advocate for pancreatic cancer research and caregivers following the death of her husband. Previously, she was director of electronic publications at the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science. She is now a member of the National Board of Directors of The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Foundation.

MY THOUGHTS/REVIEW:
DREAM NEW DREAMS is an emotionally candid memoir from Jai Pausch, the widow of Randy Pausch. Randy was the Carnegie Mellon professor whose bestseller, The Last Lecture, was based on his farewell address at the university. It is a custom that professors do this when they leave CMU. However, in Randy’s case, he gave his speech to his students and coworkers after he found out he had pancreatic cancer and that he was really leaving in a much different way. In DREAM NEW DREAMS, Jai writes what her farewell to Randy was like and how she is working on rebuilding her life each and every day.

Jai Pausch tells of her love story and marriage to Randy and the birth of their children. She honestly describes their lives together, and she doesn’t gloss over her life with Randy even during the two year battle with cancer. He was a remarkable husband and father, without a doubt. However, Randy could also be stubborn and that made dealing with his own mortality often harder on both of them. Trying in his own way to help, Randy often was much too controlling like when he left Jai a list of bachelors who would make good mates for her if she decided she wanted to marry again. One point that tested Jai’s devotion and love was when Randy even suggested they should put their baby daughter up for adoption. Randy’s thinking was to make it easier for Jai with just the two other children while Jai was totally stunned that he would even suggest it.

Having gone through all this with Randy, Jai finds that society needs to realize how hard it is for people to carry on every day while dealing with these kinds of medical issues. Although she and Randy were lucky to have so many friends and family to help, there are so many who have nobody. Jai would like to see some kind of system set up in all oncology centers to be there for the relatives and caregivers of cancer sufferers. Their immeasurable feeling of being overwhelmed makes Jai ask who is helping them.

DREAM NEW DREAMS is beautifully written and Jai Pausch makes a persuasive plea for people to think about how each of us can help make situations like this better. DREAM NEW DREAMS will make you thankful for what you have but also because it is so compassionately written, you will be left with Jai’s positive inspiration. Jai and her children are healing and will always remember Randy as they make a new life for themselves filled with promise just as Randy would have wanted.  

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO DANIELLE AND THE GOOD FOLKS

AT CROWN AND RANDOM HOUSE, I HAVE ONE

COPY OF DREAM NEW DREAMS TO GIVE

AWAY TO ONE VERY LUCKY FOLLOWER

 
--U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY
--NO P. O. BOXES
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IN CASE YOU WIN!
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COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE!

HOW TO ENTER:

+1 ENTRY: COMMENT ON WHAT WHAT YOU READ ABOVE ABOUT DREAM NEW DREAMS THAT MADE YOU WANT TO WIN THIS BOOK, AND DON'T FORGET YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS

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+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON ONE WAY YOU FOLLOW MY BLOG. IF YOU FOLLOW MORE THAN ONE WAY, YOU CAN COMMENT SEPARATELY AND EACH WILL COUNT AS AN ENTRY

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GIVEAWAY ENDS AT 
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WEDNESDAY IS FOR WINNERS!

WELCOME TO BOOKIN' WITH BINGO'S
WINNERS' ANNOUNCEMENT!

 

  THE WINNERS HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED  

BY EMAIL AND HAVE UNTIL NOON,
JULY 27, TO REPLY WITH THEIR
INFORMATION OR A NEW WINNER
WILL HAVE TO BE CHOSEN!

**************************************

IN A WITCH'S WARDROBE

A Witchcraft Mystery

BY JULIET BLACKWELL

THANKS TO KAYLEIGH AND FRIENDS AT

OBSIDIAN AND PENGUIN BOOKS,

I HAVE ONE COPY OF THIS NEW

MYSTERY, IN A WITCH'S WARDROBE,

TO GIVE AWAY TO A LUCKY READER

 THE WINNER IS:

#142 Linda Kish

****************************************

THE WORLD WITHOUT YOU

BY JOSHUA HENKIN

THANKS TO AUTHOR JOSHUA HENKIN,

I HAVE ONE COPY OF THIS FABULOUS

NEW NOVEL, THE WORLD WITHOUT YOU,

TO GIVE AWAY TO ONE  LUCKY READER

THE WINNER IS:

#34 holdenj

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 VISION IMPOSSIBLE

A Psychic Eye Mystery

BY VICTORIA LAURIE

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OBSIDIAN AND PENGUIN BOOKS,

I HAVE ONE COPY OF THIS NEW

MYSTERY, VISION IMPOSSIBLE,

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THE WINNER IS:

#92 rubynreba

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THE SINS OF THE FATHER 

Next in THE CLIFTON CHRONICLES Series

BY JEFFREY ARCHER

THANKS TO ESTHER AND MY FRIENDS AT

MACMILLAN AUDIO, I HAVE ONE COPY OF 

THE SINS OF THE FATHER BY JEFFREY ARCHER,

TO GIVE AWAY TO ONE LUCKY FOLLOWER

THE WINNER IS:

#22 petite

********************************************* 

 THE JOY FIT CLUB
Cookbook, Diet Plan, & Inspiration
BY JOY BAUER, MS, RD 

I AM HAPPY TO HAVE ONE COPY 

OF THIS HEALTHY COOKBOOK

TO GIVE AWAY TO ONE LUCKY

  FOLLOWER AND JOY BAUER FAN!

THE WINNER IS:

#49 byhookorbycrook

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QUILT OR INNOCENCE

A Southern Quilting Mystery
First in a New Series!

BY ELIZABETH CRAIG

THANKS TO KAYLEIGH AND FRIENDS AT

OBSIDIAN AND PENGUIN BOOKS,

I HAVE ONE COPY FROM THIS NEW

MYSTERY SERIES, QUILT OR INNOCENCE,

TO GIVE AWAY TO A LUCKY FOLLOWER

THE WINNER IS:

#167 Sue Farrell

*****************************************************

THEN CAME YOU

BY JENNIFER WEINER

THANKS TO THE GOOD FOLKS

AT SIMON AND SCHUSTER, I HAVE

ONE COPY OF THEN CAME YOU, FOR

ONE LUCKY FOLLOWER TO ENJOY

DURING THIS SUMMER

THE WINNER IS:

#208 (#8 on second page) holdenj

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 PLOTTING AT THE PTA 

Or To New Business...and Old Grudges

BY LAURA ALDEN

 THANKS TO KAYLEIGH AND THE GOOD FOLKS  
AT OBSIDIAN AND PENGUIN BOOKS,

I HAVE ONE COPY OF PLOTTING AT THE PTA,

TO GIVE AWAY TO A LUCKY READER

THE WINNER IS:

#227 (#27 second page) Karen B

*******************************************

STAR SPANGLED MURDER

A Lucy Stone Mystery

BY LESLIE MEIER

 I AM EXCITED TO HAVE THIS SPECIAL

COZY MYSTERY TO GIVE AWAY TO

ONE LUCKY WINNER ON THIS 4TH OF JULY

THE WINNER IS:

#157 LAMusing

*******************************************

THE MIDWIFE OF VENICE

BY ROBERTA RICH

THANKS TO MELISSA AND THE FOLKS AT 
SIMON AND SCHUSTER, I HAVE ONE COPY OF
THIS INTERESTING NOVEL TO GIVE AWAY 

THE WINNER IS:

#92 Margie

*****************************************
COZY MYSTERY MONTH 
GRAND CELEBRATION WINNER
...AND RUNNER-UP!

I AM VERY EXCITED TO BE ABLE

TO BRING COZY MYSTERY MONTH

TO A CLOSE ON BOOKIN' WITH BINGO

WITH 5 GREAT TITLES I CHOSE MYSELF

FOR ONE LUCKY, LOYAL WINNER!

THE TITLES ARE:

 ESPRESSO SHOT

A Coffeehouse Mystery

BY CLEO COYLE

BEDEVILED EGGS

A Cackleberry Club Mystery

BY LAURA CHILDS

SPRINKLE WITH MURDER

A Cupcake Bakery Mystery

BY JENN McKINLAY

THE PUMPKIN MUFFIN MURDER

A Fresh-Baked Mystery

BY LIVIA J. WASHBURN

GLAZED MURDER

A Donut Shop Mystery

BY JESSICA BECK

THE BIG FIRST PLACE 

WINNER OF THE FIVE 

BOOKS ABOVE IS:

#145 Bethie

CONGRATULATIONS!...

*****************************************

AND AS I PROMISED WITH THIS ABOVE GIVEAWAY...

SPECIAL NOTICE!
  "If we get more than 200 comments,
I will add a second prize of 5 different
Cozy Mysteries for a second place
Winner! Tell your friends, share, blog,
and tweet about this giveaway!"

THANKS TO ALL WHO ENTERED, WE WENT

WELL OVER 300, SO THE SECOND PLACE

WINNER WILL RECEIVE:

 PLAN BEE

FIRE ENGINE DEAD

CLOBBERED WITH CAMEMBERT

ADRIFT ON ST. JOHNS

 
SKETCH A FALLING STAR

   THE SECOND PLACE WINNER WHO WILL RECEIVE THE FIVE COZY 

MYSTERIES ABOVE IS:

#4 debbie

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