Seaside Book Nook

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Nook Color + Case Giveaway!

That 's right! I have teamed up with some fellow bloggers and we are giving away a Nook Color, case and screen protector to one lucky person!!!

You can enter to win using the Rafflecopter form below.
Please see the bottom of the form for rules.

Giveaway ends at 12:01 May 23rd EST.

Best of Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Giveaway - The Mommy Diaries

As promised, yesterday.....a Giveaway! First, I wanted to share some of Dallas' cringe-worthy mom moments!

"Brothers are notorious for fighting and my boys are no different. Last Spring, they were up in arms over a Nintendo DS. My older son got the game and threw it at his brother’s head. Bullseye. He nailed him right in the eyebrow and sent us to the ER for stitches. That wouldn't have been such a big deal if we had not just been to the ER twice in the last two months for both boys already!

Several years ago we took the kids to Disney World and stood in line forever to see the Disney princesses. Our youngest son was two at the time – a round, little, blonde, blue-eyed sweet angel (or so he appeared). He did well with two out of the three princesses, but it was that third one that got us. Cinderella happened to be the final princess of our royal encounter, and also my two-year-old's favorite. When she bent down to hug him, he ran forward to grab her. In short, there was a massive collision that ended with Cinderella on her back, my child wrapped around her neck, her dress up almost over her head, and her princess secret-service detail screaming into their head-sets, "PRINCESS DOWN! WE HAVE A PRINCESS DOWN!" My husband and I just stood there. There was nothing we could do. No one could untangle our little one from her, so they picked them both up at once. That quickly ended our session with the princesses."

A friend and I have a standing joke between us...who gets the title, Mother of the Year, for the next year. The one with the least points wins! You get points for cringe-worthy mom moments! We always seem to tie every year and both carry the title! I think that my own cringe-worthy mom moments happen so often that they don't even phases me anymore. I had to go back into the vault for this one!

In September 2011 my daughter, who is never sick, woke up not feeling well and I told her she was fine. I got her dressed and ready (no breakfast) and right before the bus pulled, she got sick. I put the other two on the bus, called work and told them I would be working from home. Around noon, I was on a conference call and she starts crying and telling me to make the pain go away. I left the conference call, called my doctor who thought she needed to go to the bathroom and was told to put her in a warm tub. We never made it to the tub since got sick again and went back to sleep. An hour later, she woke up dreaming and crying. She was not acting at all like herself (her twin - this behavior is a daily occurrence).

Another doctor call....they said bring her in. I load her up with a "puke bucket" and off we go. Upon arriving, she wants me to get a wheelchair for her. I get her out of the car, telling her the whole time, she didn't need a wheelchair, she can walk, etc. The doctor was outside getting something from his car and rans in to get a wheelchair. I was rolling me eyes, telling him she was fine. He wheeled her right into a room, asking the nurse to get her vitals.

A minute later, he turns to me and says, she needs to get to the children's ER now; do not go back home or stop anywhere. He through her appendix was about to burst. He was calling the ER and telling them we were coming in, needed to be seen immediately, and why. Of course, seeing immediately means 2 hours later. Sure enough, her appendix needed to come out....however, it had burst.

They rush her off to surgery and I am feeling like a terrible mother not realizing the what was going on with my daughter. After a two hour + surgery, the doctor comes out to let me know that her appendix had ruptured about 3 days prior and she was full of infection - now I freak out. She has an amazingly high pain threshold so she never reacted as a "normal" person would . After 3 weeks in the hospital, 1 more surgery and 3 more weeks at home....she is 100% back to normal and you would never know what she went through.

I did make it up to her and spend every night and day at the hospital with her for the first week and half. After that, I was exhausted and split the shifts with my husband.

What is your cringe-worthy mom moments? I would love to hear it!

Okay, on to the giveaway. I have one copy of The Mommy Diaries for one lucky follower. All you have to do is complete the form below! Giveaway ends 5/15/12 at midnight EST. Good Luck!

My Rating: Great Read

Synopsis: What do you get when you mix a crawling toddler, a screaming baby, and a sudden craving for pickles and ice cream all over again? A full-time job. Some people call this “parenting.” It’s an intense roller coaster of constant chaotic sounds; pitter-patter of adorable, yet never-ceasing, little feet; things getting broken; emotional ups and downs…all in addition to the regular duties, chores, and responsibilities of a normal American household.

Sometimes laughter is needed to survive the more intense days…

The Mommy Diaries: How I’m Surviving Parenting without Killing Anyone is a snapshot into the crazy, daily parenting life of Dallas Louis, author of Girlfriends, Giggles, & God. Dallas is the mother of three kids who all arrived within twenty-six months of each other. Combining that with later home renovation projects and surviving multiple ER visits, all the while still maintaining a relationship with her husband (remember that guy?), she has lived through enough moments of her own to share with her readers her tears and fears through laughter, and often times, the act of surviving the early years by sheer, dumb luck! The Mommy Diaries will have you rolling off your couch, and thanking your lucky stars that all these babies fell to someone else!

My Review: Oh boy....do I get The Mommy Diaries. I had my three kids in 21 months. Though mine were a single and twins, I still had 3 kids under 2 and all in diapers. Unlike Dallas, I was so numb that there is no way I could write a book about it all. I was woking full-time as a senior manager for one of the big four accounting firms and honestly I try not to remember those first four (or five or nine) years! Reality is, I am not sure I can even remember them anymore. I am just too tired!

I am thankful that Dallas is able to remember and write about her stories. They are too funny. I really didn't want to laugh at her "situations," but you just can't help it. Her Disney story is the best, with a whooper of ending. We went to Disney the week between Christmas and New Year's Day and it was insane.

You have to pick up this book for a great summer read. This is too funny a read for any soon-to-be parent or already a parent.

Meet the Author: Born and raised in Austin, Texas, Dallas now lives in Houston with her wonderful husband and three kids, travelling all over the country encouraging women in their faith and strengthening their ministries. She loves the early morning stillness, and admits that’s when her inspiration strikes best! She’s a self-proclaimed hybrid: a cross between redneck and city girl, but loves the way God made her!

Buy It: You can purchase The Mommy Diaries online at Amazon for $12.95 ($10.36 for prime member and $6.99 kindle version)

Great News: Tomorrow, I will have another post on The Mommy Diaries and you will have the chance to win your own copy! Woo Hoo! See you all tomorrow!

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Paris In Love: A Memoir

My Rating : Okay Read (and it is killing to rate is as such)

Synopsis: In 2009, New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James took a leap that many people dream about: she sold her house, took a sabbatical from her job as a Shakespeare professor, and moved her family to Paris. Paris in Love: A Memoir chronicles her joyful year in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

With no classes to teach, no committee meetings to attend, no lawn to mow or cars to park, Eloisa revels in the ordinary pleasures of life—discovering corner museums that tourists overlook, chronicling Frenchwomen’s sartorial triumphs, walking from one end of Paris to another. She copes with her Italian husband’s notions of quality time; her two hilarious children, ages eleven and fifteen, as they navigate schools—not to mention puberty—in a foreign language; and her mother-in-law Marina’s raised eyebrow in the kitchen (even as Marina overfeeds Milo, the family dog).

Paris in Love invites the reader into the life of a most enchanting family, framed by la ville de l’amour.

My Review: Paris in Love just wasn't my cup of tea. Written by a professor I was really surprised that the book took on the same form as reading Facebook posts. I had a hard time with the flow of the book and it didn't keep my attention at all. If you are a fan of reading Facebook posts by others, I would definitely recommend Paris in Love to you. It is killing me to write this review, but I honestly didn't care for it.

Buy it: You can purchase Paris in Love online at Amazon for $26.00 ($14.40 for prime members or $12.99 kindle version).

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Fat Is the New 30

My Rating: Good Read, Too Funny!

Synopsis: The Sweet Potato Queens® are back and bawdier than ever in Southern belle extraordinaire Jill Conner Browne’s ninth edition of the hysterical series. Having experienced pretty much ALL of the crappy parts of life, Browne feels it is her duty to render whatever assistance she can to her fellow sufferers — and she does so in her own inimitable fashion.

Her father taught her there are very few situations in life that we really and truly cannot change, and it is up to us to figure out how to either make fun OUT of them — or make fun OF them. And fortunately for the rest of us, Browne is well equipped for both.

Including the exploits of the Queen contingent and her family, she delivers applicable tidbits like:

* Thinking or talking about watermelon can save any negative situation.

* If you get drunk in Scotland, you can’t have your cow with you.

* When sanity and reason fail, you can always cheerfully resort to ridicule.

* Denial means that every situation is perfectly perfect.

More fun than a Cracker Barrel full of monkeys, Fat Is the New 30 will change your life — or at least give you ideas for making fun of your ownself.

My Review: I might be the only person who has never read a Jill Conner Browne book before, but I am sure glad I finally have. This Fat is the New 30, the Sweet Potato Queen's Guide to Coping with (the crappy parts of) Life is too funny. I have to share with y'all some of my favorite chapters.

Fair and Square: In this chapter I love the part where Sweet Potato Queen (the Queen) describes how to handle "one of many indignities of aging"......Remembering what you were talking about. I woke my husband up the night I was reading this chapter, because I was laughing so hard over this chapter....it is so true! When you forget the end of a story, while telling it....no worries, just keep on talking. How true is that. Everyone might think you are crazy, but better crazy than old and forgetful!

Tough Times, Tight Money: OMG, this chapter is "funny as sh*t." I don't know that I can add much more than that. What does one little brother, three older sisters, a barn slide and a bag of poo have in common? One funny story, that's what. Seriously, this chapter is "funny as sh*t," but I am not really sure what it has to do with the crappy part of life. Great story, though. Oh....I might have just gotten it!

God Wants Us to Eat Up: Oh yes God does. I just wish everything I liked wasn't bad for me, full of calories and has a ton fat grams! I love this.....the Queen wrote, "Chocolate is GOOD for ME - so sorry if it is bad for YOU." I think the Queen is my long lost seester (sister)! The Queen writes about a cake in mug recipe and turns it into a brownie in a mug. I seriously have to try this. I LOVE brownies and would love to wipe one up in a mug. I am a little confused about putting the left over batter in the freezer, since I would end up licking the bowl clean. What left over batter? I am going to try this brownie in a mug tonight!

Who knew you could sprinkle some Splenda on a yellow onion and substitute it for a Vidalia onion when they aren't in season. Hmmm, not sure I will try that one. I am not a big onion person but I did learn that little secret and so many more in this chapter.

The Holidays: Horrifying Tales of Human Sacrifice: This chapter covers everything from Valentines to Christmas, birthday cakes to gifts and people-pleasers to family crap. The Queen LOVES Christmas letters - I do to. One of my favorite thing between Thanksgiving and News Year is to open a holiday card and find the annual news letter from someone is included. I immediately have to read it, no matter that I may be late to pick one of the kids at one of their many events. Christmas letters come first!

The Queen also writes, "CARNATIONS: DON'T YOU DARE!" I have to say - 100% agree. My family was 3 generation flower shop owners and I can't stand carnations (not to mention I know how cheep they are). Guys, seriously....don't send or pick up carnations for that special someone in your life!

I really did find Fat Is the New 30 pretty darn funny and so true (can't deny that, even though I want too!).

Meet the Author: Jill Conner Browne is the multiple #1 New York Times bestselling author of nine Sweet Potato Queens® books and has created a global phenomenon--6,200 chapter groups in 37 countries--based upon her philosophy and world-view as recounted through these rollicking, raucous and riotously funny essays. Women and smart men understand that the bawdy, sassy, down-to-earth humor is simply the vehicle by which the greater message is conveyed--that is, one of self-reliance and empowerment, inspiring all to do what makes their hearts sing.

Buy It: You can purchase Fat Is the New 30 at Amazon for $14.95 ($8.26 prime members and $3.99 kindle version)

Other Thoughts: Would love to read other Sweet Potato Queen books. I think the listening to them would be a hoot too!

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Comeback Love - Crazy Book Tours

My Rating: Great Read

Synopsis: What would you do if you had a second chance with the one that got away?

More than thirty-five years ago, Gordon Meyers, an aspiring writer with a low number in the draft lottery, packed his belongings and reluctantly drove away, leaving behind Glenna Rising, the sexy, sharp-witted med student he couldn’t imagine living without.

Now, decades later, Gordon is a former globe-trotting consultant with a grown son, an ex-wife, and an overwhelming desire to see Glenna again. Though she’s stunned when Gordon walks into her Manhattan office, Glenna agrees to accompany him for a drink. As the two head out into the snow-swept city, they rediscover the passion that once drew them together—before it tore them apart. And as the evening unfolds, Gordon will finally reveal the true reason for his return. . . .
Comeback Love is an evocative journey into the hearts of two lovers who came of age in the 1960s, and who never truly let each other go. Plumbing the depths of youth, regret, and desire, Peter Golden deftly illuminates the bonds that mysteriously endure in the face of momentous change.

My Review: Ah, what a beautiful love story. I really enjoy it when I come across a great love story and that is just Comeback Love is....a great love story. I like how the story unfolds by alternating between earlier days (1960's) when the characters first fell in love and thirty-five years later to "present time." I swear I should have grown up in the 60's, I love that era. For me, it was just another reason to love the book, but definitely not the only one. I also enjoyed the parallels that were woven thought out the book as we were taken back to the past and brought back to the present.

I really like Glenna (even if I didn't like her name for some reason). I liked what she stood for and her beliefs. Gordon...how can you not fall in love with him? You just need to read Comeback Love to learn why Gordon sought Glenna out after thirty-five years. You won't be disappointed.

Comeback Love is a book that pulls you in and you can't stop reading it. I have said it before, I am not a fast reader, and yet I finished Comeback Love in 5 days....it;s just that good!

Meet the Author: Peter Golden is an award-winning journalist and the author of six full-length works of non-fiction and fiction. Some of Peter Golden's work has appeared in the Detroit Free Press Magazine, Albany Times Union, New Jersey Monthly, Microsoft's eDirections, Beyond Computing, Electronic Business, Midstream, The Forward, and Capital Region Magazine. Golden's Quiet Diplomat, a biography of industrialist and political-insider Max M. Fisher made the Detroit Free Press bestseller list. Among those he interviewed were Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Bush; Secretaries of State Kissinger, Haig, and Shultz; and Israeli Prime Ministers Shamir, Peres, and Rabin.

With J. Stanley Shaw, Golden wrote, I Rest My Case: My Long Journey from the Castle on the Hill to Home, a memoir that chronicles Shaw's life from his childhood years under the supervision of the Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum in the 1930s to his career as one of the preeminent bankruptcy attorneys in the United States.

Golden's O Powerful Western Star, a history of the Cold War, will be published in the fall of 2011. For that book, Golden re-interviewed Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, and other world leaders, including Mikhail Gorbachev.
Connect with Peter Golden on his website.

Buy it: You can purchase Comeback Love online at amazon for $15.00 ($10.20 prime members or $9.99 kindle version).

Other tidbits: Here is a look at the original cover. I have to say, I LOVE the current cover! Which cover do you prefer?

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

In the Bag - TLC Book Tours

My Rating: GREAT Read! I LOVED it!

Synopsis: A European vacation.
A luggage mix-up.
A note from a secret admirer.
Meet two single parents who think they're too busy to date.
And two teenagers who can't stop writing flirty emails.

This is a tale of connections—missed and made—in a universe that seems to have its heart set on reuniting Ms. 6B and Mr. 13C.

Webb
I can't believe I picked up the wrong bag at the airport. My dad is never going to let me hear the end of it.

Coco
I don't understand why Mom told me to pack my worst underwear. And now I've lost my bag? Ack!

Andrew
I cannot stop thinking about that woman in seat 6B on the flight to Paris.

Daisy
I don't have time to worry about the creep sitting in 13C who slipped a note in my purse. I have to find my daughter's missing bag before this ruins our vacation.

In the Bag is a smart and stylish story that explores the old-fashioned art of romance in a modern world, where falling in love can be as risky as checking a bag on an international flight. Buckle your seat belt—it's going to be a bumpy vacation!

My Review: First, let me just put a few things out there.....

chick lit at its best,
extremely fast and easy read,
funny, cute, so many laugh out loud parts,
unique story line,
didn't want it to end,
Kate Klise....I hope you are writing fast, I for one can't wait to read another book by you!

In the Bag is a fantastic story about two identical bags getting mixed up in Paris. It includes a father/son and mother/daughter relationship, young love and experienced love. The chapters alternate between the four characters. They are short chapters, so the story moves along very quickly and smoothly.

How Kate Klise has inter-woven themes throughout In the Bag with each character is utterly amazing (even right down to the caterer calling in unable to carter the opening). I could never have been so creative. Kate Klise thought of everything. The end....Cinco por Cinco and sleeping bags behind the couch had me in stitches. What a perfect ending! Clever, clever story writer, Kate Klise, I want more! You all just need to read to In the Bag to understand what I mean. I don't want to give anything away here.

The characters were very believable, in fact I could picture them and what they were going through. I loved them all. Usually there is a person in a book you don't care for so much, not so in In the Bag. I was cheering for all four of them through out the book. I do wish that Coco would have treated her mother a little kinder, but I think Kate Klise nailed the typical mother/18 year old daughter relationship perfectly. In the Bag is a wonderful, must read book. In the Bag would be excellent for summer reading. I think for all ages 16 and up. I wouldn't go any younger than 16 (just my opinion).

Meet the Author: As a correspondent for People magazine, Kate Klise covered everything from celebrity scandals to serial killers. After writing several bestselling children’s books, Kate decided to write In the Bag, her first novel for adults, when she found a note from a fellow passenger in her carry-on bag.

Connect with Kate on her website.

Buy It: You can purchase In the Bag, starting today, May 1st on-line at amazon ($14.99 paperback, $10.98 prime members and $9.99 kindle version).