Blog Tour – Thirsty by Tracey Bateman

Thirsty: A Novel
Tracey Bateman
Waterbrook/Random House
376 p. (PB, discussion questions)

Summary
Nina emerges from rehab and decides she needs to start over. She heads home to Missouri dragging her daughter Meg behind her. She meets Markus, her sister’s gorgeous neighbor, re-unites with her parents, and finds out all she believes is a lie. Of course.

My Thoughts
Thirsty is about more than being drunk. It’s about self-control, overcoming demons, and finding there may be a higher power after all.

Tracey Bateman’s novel builds slowly but not boringly. Each chapter has an italized little forward that sounds like we’re reading Nina’s diary. It’s a nice way to get the character’s thoughts without clogging up the story. I thought the intros gave an insight into Nina’s behavior and helped us see how she got to where she was. Having Markus tell her the legend of the vampire was, while not new, a good way to get the reader info about him. I wanted to know more about Meg, Nina’s daughter. We get a glimpse into her personality but only in relation to Nina. She was starting to step out on her own and I would like to see how she battle her own demons.

Bateman doesn’t bring God fully into the story until almost the end. Thirsty isn’t overly religious. We know Nina is waiting for God to make a move in her life and that foreshadowing gives us a sense of mystery and suspense because something has to happen! The murders in the small town continue; leading closer and closer to home.

The end wrapped up neater and quicker than I liked. Nina made amends and the murder case was solved with a sense of finality.

I thought Thirsty was well-written and solid. The pacing was perfect for the story and Bateman introduced another aspect of vampire lore that makes things more interesting. Although it has some vampire touches Thirsty deals more with Nina and I hope Bateman continues with stories of Meg.

About the Author
Tracey Bateman is a slightly neurotic mother of four, wife of one, and owner of three dogs, two blue bloods and one mutt (the mutt is the only one who will come to her when called). Lifetime movies, chunky monkey ice cream, and frantic late night Instant message chats with friends, who are only slightly less neurotic, keep her moving forward when deadlines loom and insanity is nipping at the heels of her mind. Being president of American Christian Fiction Writers gives her the chance to give back to a community of writers who have helped shape her career and her writing style.

As a kid, Tracey whiled away the hours with such treasures as Trixie Belden, Bobbsey Twins, The Pam and Penny Books and any other books by Rosamund du Jardin. These are still favorite reads to this day. Favorite authors include Kristin Billerbeck, Francine Rivers, Susan May Warren, Karen Kingsbury, Shelley Bates, and Deborah Bedford.

More reviews
Books, Movies, Chinese Food rvw Thirsty by Tracey Bateman
My Friend Amy’s rvw Thirsty by Tracey Bateman
All About {n} rvw of Thirsty by Tracey Bateman
Books, Movies, Reviews, Oh My rvw Thirsty by Tracey Bateman

Touched by a Vampire

Touched by a Vampire examines the Twilight Saga by comparing what happens in the book with what the Bible says. Although many parts of the book were simplistic I was able to glean some useful information. Most of the interesting questions were focused on Bella and Edwards relationship which I’d already found unhealthy. It was nice to see how that parlayed into religion.

Giveaway
Do you want to read Thirsty yourself? How about Touched By A Vampire? I’m giving away both of them to one lucky commenter.

Just leave a comment with your email address. Open to US residents only. 1 entry per person. Contest closes
Thursday, December 3, 2009, 11:59 pm.

Blog Tour – Now and Then by Jacqueline Sheehan

Now and Then
Jacqueline Sheehan
Avon
384 pgs. (author info)

Summary
Anna’s brother, Patrick, gets into a car accident on his way to pick up his errant son, Joseph. Patrick is now on life support so Anna is volunteered to retrieve Joseph from jail. Later, Anna is awakened by some weird sounds which turn out to be Joseph going through her luggage. This leads to an unexpected trip for them both. In Ireland. 164 years in the past…

My Thoughts
Now and Then starts off slowly but soon the voices of the characters take on a life their own and you find yourself transported into the past and lost in the story, just like Joseph and Anna.

The writing is a little formal at first, beautiful, but stilted.

“She did not want to be the dreadful price that the present owners had to endure.”

“Time bent and folded like a piece of string looped around a stick.”

I think this is done to show how formal Anna has become since her divorce because the language changes as the story progresses. Once Anne and Joseph are transported to Ireland, 164 yrs in the past (interesting #), things start to pick up.

I found the two major characters believable and likable. Joseph, the 16 year-old, crushed by being an outsider at school and pushed away by his single-dad father longs for love and acceptance and is not sure how far he will have to go to find them. Anna, desperately wondering why she is always the one left behind hopes to find herself again and escape from the fog her life has become.

I thoroughly enjoyed Now and Then. Once you’re in the story, you’re in it till the end. The action is fast, without being rushed, and although parts of story were predictable, you never felt like you had all the answers.

About the Author

Jacqueline Sheehan, Ph.D., is a fiction writer and essayist. She is a New Englander through and through, but spent twenty years living in the western states of Oregon, California, and New Mexico doing a variety of things, including house painting, freelance photography, newspaper writing, roofing, clerking in a health food store, and directing a traveling troupe of high-school puppeteers.

Her first novel, Truth, was published in 2003 by Free Press (Simon & Schuster). Her second novel, Lost & Found, was published in 2007 by Avon (HarperCollins). She has published travel articles (”Winter in Soviet Georgia”), short stories (most recently in the Berkshire Review), and numerous essays and radio pieces. In 2005, she was the editor of the anthology Women Writing in Prison. This anthology is the culmination of eight years of writing workshops sponsored by Voices from Inside, an advocacy group for incarcerated women.

Jacqueline currently offers international writing and yoga retreats and teaches writing at Writers in Progress and Grub Street in Boston. She is working on her next novel that will be published by Avon.

Tour dates
Monday, November 23rd: Stephanie’s Written Word

Monday, November 30th: Jenn’s Bookshelves

Tuesday, December 1st: The Tome Traveller

Jacqueline on the internets
Jacqueline Sheehan
Jacqueline Sheehan’s HarperCollins page

Book provided by TLC Book Blog Tours and the publishers.

Blog Tour – Limelight by Melody Carlson

Limelight
Melody Carlson
Waterbrook/Multnomah
376 pgs (pub supplied)

Summary
Claudette is 82 years old and feeling every day of it. The IRS has taken all she had leaving her destitute and depressed. Claudette has to go home and try to start over and she’s wondering if it’s worth it or would it just be easier to give up.

My Thoughts
Limelight follows Claudette as she tries to convince herself that life is worth living and that it’s not all about the money. Claudette finds herself back in her childhood home in Silverton where you can walk to almost any place in town. Claudette does not want to go back to the place she spent so much time trying to escape. She settles in amid many mishaps including a backed up toilet, a broken furnace, and a car that doesn’t like cold weather.

Throughout Limelight, I kept reminding myself of Claudette’s age. She continually whined about not having money and/or people to do stuff for her. She spent very little time dwelling on the rift between her and her sister, Violet. All the drama and story happened in the last 100 pages of this book. Suddenly, Claudette was reminded of why she left home and she wanted to talk to her sister about it. Claudette also found some old letters that her deceased husband had written to her mother many years ago. She learned things in the letters that she didn’t know in over 40 years of marriage.I thought Limelight was slow and somewhat unrealistic. Or, maybe the slow unwinding of the story represented Claudette’s reluctance to leave her old life and embrace her new one. I don’t know. Or maybe it was realistic and I just need to expand my schema of “elderly women”.

I’ve read several of Melody Carlson’s young adult titles including The Chloe and Caitlin books in the Diary of a Teenage Girl series and I’m a huge fan. So, I came into this with pre-conceived notions and found this highly, different book for an entirely different audience. That could just be it. It just wasn’t for me.

About the Author
Melody Carlson has published over ninety books for adults, children, and teens, with sales totaling more than two million and many titles appearing on the ECPA Bestsellers List. Several of her books have been finalists for, and winners of, various writing awards, including the Gold Medallion and the RITA Award.

Giveaway

Although Limelight was not my cup of tea you might like it. To find out, leave a comment telling me your favorite Christian fiction title for adults and why you like it.
I’ll give away my copy of Limelight to one person.
Giveaway ends Thursday, November 12, 2009, 11:59 pm EST

Also, here’s an excerpt!
Excerpt, Chapter 1

Blog Tour – After The Moment by Garret Freymann-Weyr

After The Moment
Garret Freymann-Weyr
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
328 pg. (HC provided by TLC Book Tours)

Summary
Leigh only wanted to help his stepsister get through her crisis. His life was on a path, one he couldn’t see clearly, but at least he was on the map. Maia Moreland brought questions about his next step. Was he headed in the right direction? Could he include Maia in that plan?

My Thoughts
After the Moment starts at the end. Leigh runs into Maia at a party. She looks the same but different; better somehow. He jumps back four years and remembers what brought him to this point.

Leigh is seventeen in most of After the Moment. We learn most of what we know through Millie, his stepsister, and Lillian, his mother. We understand how his father, Clayton, played a part who he is. How he doesn’t want to be like Clayton but he’s not sure what that means. Leigh’s hesitant to make some decisions because he wants the people around him to be happy and he understands he plays a role in that. We get a clear picture of Leigh and can feel his joys and his confusions.

Although I could connect with Maia, it was a tenuous connection based on the very small fragments of her behavior I understood. Sometimes her actions didn’t make sense. I believe Freymann-Weyr wrote her that way on purpose. Maia Moreland didn’t really know herself. She was putting her life back together, working with the pieces she had and connecting those to the pieces she was currently fashioning. When Leigh talks about his collage, it reminds me of Maia’s life.

After the Moment moves slowly and deliberately. We start at the end, flashback to the all important year, and then return to the present to wrap things up. Throughout the story we are treated to Leigh’s thoughts on the war. I think these glimpses of Leigh trying to understand what’s happening over there are supposed to mirror what’s happening with him and Maia but I’m not sure. I don’t see why else they would be included because I think this story could be told without this angle.

This little books packs quite a few writing gems. I stopped noting them after a while but here are some I enjoyed:

“The kind of mess that can only be created by lawyers, parents, and threatened charges of criminal negligence.”

“…Maia Moreland was the object of his sister’s crush–the kind a twelve-year old girl develops on the girl she wants to become.” (love this!)

“…he built his universe on Maia’s smile…”

I enjoyed After the Moment. Although it’s not a book that you gulp down it is a fairly quick read. I thought most of the characters were well-written and the uncertainty of love described beautifully. We have another of Freymann-Weyr’s books in our library and I’ll be sure to read it, too.

About the Author
Garret Freymann-Weyr grew up in NYC and often sets her books there. She went to college at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received an MFA in film from New York University. She has written four books for young adults including My Heartbeat which won the Printz Honor for excellence in literature for young adults. She currently lives outside Washington, DC with her husband. She has said that the best way to get ideas is to read a lot because that “gets you thinking in terms of story, character, and image.”

Freymann on the Internet
Garret discussing After the Moment

Garret Freymann-Weyr website
Wednesday, October 28th – Luxury Reading
Thursday, October 29th – Pop Culture Junkie
TLC Tour Schedule – scroll down
Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review – scroll down
Booklist Starred Review
Surprises About Men: Unexpected Lessons from the Other Side

It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? – October 19, 2009

Here’s where I list what I’ve read, what I’m reading and what I want to read this week.

Finished
Pop by Gordon Korman (Mock Newbery) – different than other Korman books I’ve read (Son of the Mob 1&2, Born to Rock, On The Run series, Everest series, No More Dead Dogs). The action was low-key and the boy was more hormonal. We knew the problem in the beginning and that seemed to “lessen” the main character in my eyes. In the end, everything wrapped up nice and neat. (pub supplied)

The Lost Conspiracy by Francis Hardinge – would be on our Newbery list but was pubbed in Britain first. The plot moves along steadily until the “big event” then things seemed to drag. It became a little easier to put down and walk away. Then the action picked up a little more as all the “threads” started pulling together. (purchased)

Stitches by David Small – National Book Award – Young People’s finalist, which caused much blog hoopla. I like hoopla. Read in one sitting, loved the format, readaloud parts to daughter who, along with me was alternatively grossed out and fascinated. She thinks we should have in our library. I agree. (library)

The 13 Days of Halloween (blog tour) – so fun. My daughter kept singing each verse when I turned the page while I was engrossed in the pictures. Great fun!

Reading
Bridget Jones’ Diary by Helen Fielding (Everything Austen Challenge) – kinda ruined by the movie. Really boring and easy to put down. May have to change my list. I only have until January and I’ve only completed 1 item on my 6 item list!

The Pigman by Paul Zindel (Jr. English Academic Superbowl) – breaking it into parts, defining words, etc to help students understand it for the competition.

The Way Home by George Pelecanos (rvw from Hachette book group) – brilliant cover. Gritty mystery.

Upcoming
I have a blog tour coming up next week and I signed up to participate in the Dewey 24 hr Read-A-thon. Unfortunately, my back-up babysitting card has been called in and I’m not sure how much reading I’ll be able to complete! Whine! So my modest plan is:

After the Moment by Garrett Freyman-Weyr (TLC book tour)
Brooklyn by Coim Toibin (50 books for our Time)
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Candor by Pam Bachorz

Sorry about the lack of formatting and graphics, I’m on a borrowed computer on borrowed time!

Check out J. Kaye’s blog to see what others are reading.

Blog Tour – The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl

The Last Dickens
Matthew Pearl
Random House
p. 383 (HC with notes from the Author)

Summary
The Last Dickens unravels three tales – Dickens’ last visit to America, James Osgood and Rebecca Sands visit to England, and Frank Dickens’ stint in law enforcement. James Osgood sets out to find the other half of Charles Dickens’ last novel: The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Osgood’s company are Mr. Dickens’ American publishers and they need to put this book out in order to stay afloat. James Osgood travels to England to trace Dickens’ last steps and find out where the rest of the manuscript is hidden before anyone else can get their hands on it.

My Thoughts

Although I found The Last Dickens entertaining I felt like I was attempting to keep too many balls afloat. The story bounces back and forth between three time periods and your mind is constantly trying to make connections between them.

Charles Dickens’ visit to America is the strongest story line. Pearl gives enough information about Charles Dickens, coupled with common knowledge, to make a solid character. In the same tale, Tom Branagan’s and James Osgood’s characters are also fully realized. This was the part of the book I enjoyed the most. The mystery of the stranger who was stalking Dickens and the descriptions of the shows Dickens would put on for theatre patrons were intriguing and fast-moving. I felt the character of “Boston” was also three-dimensional and I could “see” the places Pearl described.

My least favorite part involved Frank Dickens in India. Mason and Turner seemed to be the stereotypical good cop/bad cop. This part seemed no more than a vehicle to describe how opium is sanctioned and travels from India to other parts of the world. It felt forced and I didn’t feel it was well-developed.

Osgood’s visit to England, accompanied by Rebecca Sands, left him a little less like the character I felt I knew. His travels to the opium den and his willingness to be taken in by Datchery rang false. They didn’t sit well with the Osgood we knew from Dickens’ travels to America. However, I enjoyed how Pearl wove the tale of Edward Trood into The Mystery of Edwin Drood. That little part of history lifted this part of the book.

The Last Dickens is good mix of history and mystery. The tone of the novel is dark and accurately reflects the time period it portrays. Overall, I liked the book but felt it could have been tighter in some places. That said, I might need to read more Charles Dickens to fully appreciate what Pearl has created.

About the Author

Matthew Pearl is the New York Times bestselling author of The Dante Club, The Poe Shadow, and The Last Dickens. His books have been New York Times bestsellers and international bestsellers translated into more than 30 languages. His nonfiction writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, and Slate.com. He has been heard on shows including NPR’s “All Things Considered” and “Weekend Edition Sunday,” and his books have been featured on Good Morning America and CBS Sunday Morning.

Matthew Pearl grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and is a graduate of Harvard University and Yale Law School. He is the editor of the Modern Library editions of Dante’s Inferno (translated by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow) and Edgar Allan Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue: The Dupin Tales. He has also taught literature and creative writing at Harvard University and Emerson College, and has been a Visiting Lecturer in law and literature at Harvard Law School. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Pearl Around the Internets

TLC Book Tour Schedule (thru October 22, 2009)

LibraryThing Chat (Oct 5 – Oct 16, 2009)

Matthew Pearl website

Random House Matthew Pearl author page

Giveaway

Want to form your own opinion of the book? TLC Book Tours and the publishers are letting me giveaway a copy of this book! To enter:

Comment letting me know your favorite Dickens title.

Please leave your email address!

US Residents only. Giveaway ends October 21, 2009.

Blog Tour – Betsy In Spite of Herself by Maud Hart Lovelace

Heaven to Betsy and Betsy In Spite of Herself
Maud Hart Lovelace
HarperPerennial
661 pgs.

Summary
In Heaven to Betsy, Betsy goes to high school. The summer before freshmen year she visits a family friend and becomes homesick. Luckily, her family calls her home to give her a huge surprise. The surprise makes it more fun to go to a new school with Tacy. Betsy makes many new friends, boys and girls, and finds herself paying more attention to The Crowd and Joe Willard than her school work.

In Betsy in Spite of Herself Betsy enters sophomore year and decides it’s time to re-invent herself. All the boys love coming to her house and hanging out but none of them harbor romantic feelings towards Betsy. And Betsy feels the same. She wants to find a beau and she believes becoming “Betsye” will help.

My Thoughts

Betsy’s stories are as relevant today as they were in 1945 and 1946! Betsy’s longing for a boyfriend, trying to find the most flattering clothes and hairstyles, hanging out with friends – things teenagers still engage in. I was surprised to find that not only did I enjoy the stories, I looked forward to reading more. Maud Hart Lovelace intertwines as much related history as she can while putting each story into a better context.

I thought I was going to be bored with these stories because of the time period and Maud’s past being so unrelated to mine. I was pleasantly surprised to find the stories entertaining and so readable. I thought I would skip over book 5 and just jump into book 6 but the story was captivating and I found myself engrossed – what happens with Betsy and Joe? She met him on her way home from her summer trip and then find he’s going to her high school and he’s also a freshman! Joe being able to live on his own with no parents fascinated me and I found myself trying to find more information about him. I can’t wait to see what happens with him because Betsy is courted by two other boys and forgets about Joe.

Betsy tales of romance and self-identity are well worth a read and I look forward to reading the final two volumes – four stories in all.

These stories are based on Maud’s childhood and my volume includes a chart showing who the real life “characters” were in the books. There are many pictures of the actual “Crowd” as well as pictures of many places mentioned in the books. Don’t look at any of these extras unless you’re dying to know what happens!

About the Author

Maud Hart Lovelace is best known for her beloved series of Betsy-Tacy books which were set at the turn of the twentieth century in Mankato, Minnesota (Deep Valley). These captivating stories of small town life, family traditions and enduring friendships have captured the hearts of young and old for over 65 years.

Betsy on the Internet
Betsy-Tacy book club
Betsy-Tacy birthday parties
Betsy-Tacy activities for kids

Betsy Upcoming Events
9/30 Aliso Viejo, CA at the Aliso Viejo Library
10/3 Mankato, MN at the Betsy Tacy Houses
10/3 Mesquite, TX Borders
10/23 Bainbridge Island, WA at the Library -island this date is still a bit tentative
11/7 Highland Village, TX Barnes and Noble
11/8 St. Paul, MN at the Red Balloon Bookshop
4/17/10 Dallas, TX, Dallas Heritage Museum

More TLC Tour Stops – scroll down

Thanks to TLC and HarperPerennial for supplying the information and books!

Blog Tour – Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble

Dreaming Anastasia

Joy Preble

Sourcebooks, Inc

302 pgs. (ARC)

Summary

Anne keeps having these weird nightmares. She swears these people are real, it’s like she’s really there. They want her to do something but it’s not making any sense. Then she meets Ethan. What is this connection they have? Could Anastasia Romanov really be alive? Is Ethan crazy…or is Anne?

My Thoughts

Dreaming Anastasia had me looking up more information about the Romanov’s while reading parts of the story aloud to my daughter. I thought Joy Preble brought in just enough history – it didn’t impede the flow of the story nor did it take the story over.

I enjoyed the relationship between Anne and Ethan. Anne remembered that Ethan was immortal and over 100 years old. They fought their attraction to each other as they tried to understand what was this mystery that brought them together. Their alternating voices telling the story enhanced my awareness of their growing relationship.However, Anne’s friend Tess didn’t ring true. I didn’t buy her as strong but more as an unfunny girl obsessed with her ex.

I would love to know more about the sources Preble used for her Baba Yaga story and for her information on the Romanovs. I not only want to see what happens to Ethan and Anne, especially since Ethan is now mortal again – which is a great twist – I also want to know more about the betrayal and why it happened. Dreaming Anastasia is a great addition to any middle school library and will be joining ours.

About the Author

Preble grew up in Chicago, though she moved to Texas and inexplicably began listening to country music, which she claims she didn’t like until then. She has an English degree from Northwestern University, and she teaches high school English. Dreaming Anastasia is her first novel. She can be found online at www.joypreble.com

Other Tour Sites

September 24

Ms. Bookish

September 25
Lori Calabrese Writes
Mrs. Magoo Reads

September 26
Ramblings of a Teenage Bookworm
Fantasy Book Critic

September 27
Into the Wardrobe
In the Pages

September 28
Beth Fish Reads
Reverie Book Reviews
BookLoons.com

Blog Tour and Giveaway – Stray Affections by Charlene Ann Baumbich

Stray Affections
Charlene Ann Baumbich
Multnomah/Random House
303 pgs., Reader’s Guide, recipes

Summary
Cassandra Higgins loves animals. She grew up rescuing them whenever she saw they needed help. She especially loved her dog Toby. Now Cassandra lives in a small town, in a small house, with four boys, a husband, and a living room full of animal collectibles. After what happened with Toby she doesn’t trust herself around real animals anymore. So, each year, she satisfies her heart’s longing by attending a convention and finding a material animal for her shelf. She’ll never forgive herself, or her mother Betty, for what happened twenty-four years ago.

My Thoughts
I really enjoyed this book. I felt as if I as able to get inside Cassandra’s head and find out why she felt the way she did. I also understood Betty. Sometimes, as a single mom, you have to make tough choices and you can’t always make the right ones. But they usually feel right when you make them.

I thought Baumbich introduced too many characters though. The addition of Cassandra’s friend Margret, Marget’s husband Leo, and Margret’s family felt like I was trying to keep too many people straight. Also, Ken, Cassandra’s husband, was a little too good to be true. When Margret told him things about Cassandra’s past that he didn’t know, he just accepted them and moved on. He didn’t really talk to her about being open and honest with him. That said, I still liked the way he took care of her.

The plot was a little predictable, you could figure out how things were going to come around long before the story wrapped itself up. But, it moved at a nice clip and I kept turning the pages. I actually read the entire book in one sitting.

Stray Affections was an easy, relaxing read that made me pause and think. I liked how Baumbich showed her love for God without making me feel condemned or damned. The book showed a promise without making all the characters immediately repent and turn from their ways. The broken relationships didn’t heal overnight but there were quite a few “feel good” moments. And I absolutely loved the twist with the snowglobe. That was unexpected and brought tears to my eyes.

About The Author
Charlene Ann Baumbich is a popular author and speaker and an award-winning journalist. In addition to her Dearest Dorothy series of novels, she has written seven nonfiction books of humor and inspiration. A bungee-jumping, once motorcycle-owning grandma and unabashed dog lover, Charlene lives with her husband and rescued dog Kornflake in Glen Ellyn , Illinois . She loves telling stories, laughing whenever possible, and considers herself a Wild Child of God. Check out Charlene’s website – Don’t Miss Your Life. Charlene will be at Anderson’s Bookshop in Naperville, IL on Tuesday, September 29, 2009.

Giveaway

I’m giving away one copy of this book courtesy of Ashley and Random House. Just mention in the comments that you’d like to read this and leave your email address.
The giveaway will run until Thursday, September 17, 2009 midnight.
US and Canada entrants only, please.

Stray Affections – Charlene reading from book

Blog Tour and Giveaway – Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse

Bran Hambric: Farfield Curse
Kaleb Nation
Sourcebooks
430 pgs. (official HC)

Summary
Bran Hambric has no memory of his life before he was found in a locked vault in the bank at the age of 6. We catch up to Bran, 14, living with the Wilomas on Bolton Rd. Bran’s not so much a son but closer to a servant. He lives with the Wilomas’ and helps out his Accidental Dad, Sewey, with bank business. One night, while helping Sewey, Bran meets Shambles and starts on the journey to finding out who he really is.

My Thoughts
Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse has a very strong start. The prologue opens with action that pulls you into the mystery. Then we jump to Bran at home on the roof with Sewey. We meet Shambles who seems to know more about Bran than Bran himself. He has a sinister air about him and leaves behind a piece of paper that covers up as much as it uncovers.

Things slow down a little as we get into more of the story. We’re introduced to Sewey, who found Bran, Mabel, his wife and their two spoiled children. Sewey is obviously “dimwitted” and is determined to find an outlawed gnome. Mabel is obsessed with cleanliness. Rosie, the maid, is stuck in what she sees as her heritage. Her family has always served the Wilomas family. We also meet a host of other characters – the good guys – Adi, Astara, and Polland as well as the bad guys – Joris and his gang. My main problem was the sheer number of characters. There were so many that none of them felt fully formed.

The action picks up again towards the end as we start pieceing together clues to Bran’s past. We find out more about his mother and how Bran is tied to the things she’d been involved in. Bran discovers his talents and eventually uses them to great success.

I thought Kaleb’s writing showed a sense of humor and creativity.

“What an odd and unusual notion…a store that sells nothing but books…” (105)

I admired the magical language he invented and enjoyed trying to figure out the translations.

“lite yirou diyestini lidea you…adni micagi geuida yirou wiya.” (113)

This was a fun read and I would recommend it for middle grade students.

About the Author
As a child, KALEB NATION had to be forced by his mother to write one page a week in creative writing. But by the time he finished his first story, no one could make him to stop. Age twelve, Kaleb promptly telephoned the senior editor of a major publisher to pitch the book…and got to talk with security instead.

But as with most writers, not even that could stifle his dream. On the third night of the third month in 2003, age 14, Kaleb had a sudden idea that began the story of Bran Hambric, a novel which would take most of his teenage years to write. In early 2007, Kaleb finished the first book in his series.

In mid-2008, Kaleb launched a second blog at TwilightGuy.com, giving chapter-by-chapter insight, from a guy and writer’s perspective, on reading the Twilight Saga, a series of popular novels. The website went on to receive over 5 million hits, and was featured in BusinessWeek and Entertainment Weekly magazines, as well as on MTV, ReelzChannel and other TV outlets. Kaleb also began posting regular videos on his Youtube channel, with a combined total of over 8 million plays.

ARC Giveaway
To celebrate the release I’m giving away my ARC!

Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse ARC (353pgs)
Interview with Kaleb Nation in the front!

Please leave a comment with email for entry.
1 entry per person. Contest closes Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 11:59 PM. No email entries will be accepted! Winner announced Friday, September 18th.

More Tour Stops
Dulemba.com
The Children’s Book Review
TV Watch Online
Teens Writing For Teens
Bran Hambric blog tour schedule – scroll down

Kaleb Nation online
Bran Hambric playlist
Bran Hambric website (has sound)
Kaleb Nation book tour schedule