Happy 75th Anniversary Penguin!

Today is the 75th anniversary of Penguin!

I am sure all of you have read a book published by Penguin at some point in your life (and probably at some point this year)! They have many awesome imprints, including Dutton, Razorbill, Viking...

One of the coolest things they are doing in celebration of their anniversary is explained here by Lindsay (a publicist for Penguin):

A bright-orange Penguin Mobile (an adorable mini-cooper with the Penguin logo) is driving to bookstores all over the US to bring some of our bestselling authors to parties in their hometowns, increase awareness of The Nature Conservancy, and promote literacy.  At each event, a set of 75 Penguin Books is donated to a local library or literacy group. Each author is signing the Penguin-mobile as it makes its way across the United States, and the summer’s events will culminate with a party at the New York Public Library in September where Penguin will auction the car with the proceeds going to the New York Public Library.  Penguin is also donating sets of books to numerous U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I am not able to do something quite as cool (unfortunately), but I do want to acknowledge this great landmark!  

To celebrate, Penguin has offered one of the books from the selection of 75 they have traveling across the country:
Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult!

To enter this giveaway, please leave a comment with your e-mail and a comment about Penguin - a book of theirs you love, your favorite Penguin imprint, what you think of their Penguin Mobile - anything! Please make this comment a little more than "I love Penguin" (though you are certainly encouraged to express your love, please add a little more detail :) )

Recruiting your friends will get you an extra entry - leave an extra comment telling me how you spread the word about this contest and Penguin's celebration!

US Only. This giveaway will end August 15.

For more information about Penguin and their anniversary, please check out their anniversary website!

Review: Malice by Lisa Jackson

Title: Malice
Hardcover, 432 pages
Author: Lisa Jackson
Publisher: Kensington
Publication Date: April 1, 2009

From Goodreads.com:
The scent is unmistakable – gardenias, sweet and delicate, the same perfume that his beautiful first wife, Jennifer, always wore. Opening his eyes in the hospital room where he’s recovering from an accident, New Orleans detective Rick Bentz sees her standing in the doorway. Then Jennifer blows him a kiss and disappears. But it couldn’t have been Jennifer. She died twelve years ago...

Once out of the hospital, Bentz begins to see Jennifer everywhere, haunting and taunting him, then vanishing without a trace. Could she still be alive? But it was Bentz who identified Jennifer’s body after her horrible car wreck, and there had been no question in his mind that it was her crumpled form behind the wheel, her clothes, her wedding ring. He’s never doubted it – until now. He can’t tell his new wife, Olivia, about the sightings or his secret fear that he’s losing his mind, even though he knows she suspects something is wrong. But Olivia is also hiding a secret...

When a copy of Jennifer’s death certificate arrives in the mail, emblazoned with a red question mark, Bentz follows the postmark trail to Los Angeles, returning to the painful memories he’s tried so hard to forget, and straight into a killer’s web. Reconnecting with his former LAPD colleagues, Bentz begins to piece together Jennifer’s last days, but each new discovery only serves as a chilling reminder of how little he really knew about his first wife. Then the murders begin, each victim a part of Jennifer’s past, each grisly corpse pointing to Bentz as the prime suspect.

Someone’s been waiting patiently, silently. Someone who knows exactly what happened that night twelve years ago and has been anticipating Bentz’s every move. Soon it will be Bentz’s turn to suffer for his sins. But he won’t be the only one made to pay the ultimate price. For a diabolical killer has now made Olivia the prime target...

Steve Review:

This is off the normal beaten path for me eh? This crime thriller was sent to me by the lovely Joy and I figured I could most certainly give it a try. Well, I tried it! Haha, the book was ok but definitely not my cup of tea and I honestly didn't find anything outstanding about it.

I'm guessing there are other books with Rick Bentz (the main character featured) in them since it sort of hints at it throughout the book. He is a decent character, but more of one that I would think would appeal to lonely middle aged women. Not that there is anything wrong that? The plot itself also was inventive, sometimes surprising, and quite cutthroat. Nothing super to complain about nor to praise with the book.

If you pressed me to pick a "biggest beef" with the book I would have to say the constant changes in PoV (points of view) in the story. You hear a dabble from this character, a bit from some no name unimportant perspectives, and a mix of the main characters throughout. It just didn't flow that well for me. If you continued to press me and told me to choose the best thing about this book, I would ask, "why are you doing this? /sad face". Then I would answer hesitantly: the ending/mystery surrounding the villain of the book. Not easy to guess at. If you really could not stop yourself from grilling me further on the book, I would clam up and just point resolutely to the points scale.

Book Cover: 2/5 - Scary blue eyed bloody baby? Hm, more adjectives?
Book Title: 3/5 - Malice. Malice malice MALice malICE. Relevant at least.
Plot: 6/10 - Crime thrillaaaaah. Sometimes surprising!
Characters: 6/10 - This # was deduced from the # of characters' points of view in the book divided by 600. If you throw 3600 characters at me in a book I have to give you at least 6 points I think. Plus, Bentz was ok ;) .
Writing: 5/10 - Mentioned above were the too many PoV's, I also thought that Ms. Jackson tried to draw the suspense out for sooooo long in the book it kind of shot itself in the foot.
Ending: 8/10 - Pretty good tbh.

Total: 30/50 - If you think about it, that is 60%, good enough to pass high school! The book really wasn't bad, like I stated above, just not my "thing". Imma let Lisa Jackson do her, and I'm gonna do me, lol. However, if you ARE into crime/suspense drama thrillers, the ending/mystery together would be worth the read.

Moving!

I have been contacted by CSN to review another product, which actually comes at a great time because Steve and I are getting ready to move and replacing something old for something new is all in the spirit of moving :)

While there are some things I know I will have to buy in the future-a new floor lamp (ours is breaking in half and not coming with us), a coffee maker (neither of us drink coffee but we do have many friends and family that do), and (hopefully) one of those neat washer/dryer combos, my selection from CSN is going to be more practical for this transitional time between moving and settling.

Do you have any moving or packing tips? I've collected many boxes but would love any tips you have from moving - a good way to pack up kitchenware, items we may be able to live without for a few months that could stay in boxes, etc!

Review: The Daughters by Joanna Philbin

Title: The Daughters
Hardcover, 288 pages
Author: Joanna Philbin
Publisher: Little, Brown (Poppy)
Publication Date: May 1, 2010
This book was received from the publisher

From Goodreads.com:

The only daughter of supermodel Katia Summers, witty and thoughtful Lizzie Summers likes to stick to the sidelines.

The sole heir to Metron...more The only daughter of supermodel Katia Summers, witty and thoughtful Lizzie Summers likes to stick to the sidelines.

The sole heir to Metronome Media and the daughter of billionaire Karl Jurgensen, outspoken Carina Jurgensen would rather climb mountains than social ladders.

Daughter of chart-topping pop icon Holla Jones, stylish and sensitive Hudson Jones is on the brink of her own music breakthrough.

By the time freshman year begins, unconventional-looking Lizzie Summers has come to expect fawning photographers and adoring fans to surround her gorgeous supermodel mother. But when Lizzie is approached by a fashion photographer who believes she’s “the new face of beauty,” Lizzie surprises herself and her family by becoming the newest Summers woman to capture the media spotlight.

In this debut young adult series tailored for younger teens, author Joanna Philbin explores what it’s really like to grow up in the thick of the celebrity world. As Lizzie and her two best friends (and fellow daughters-of-celebrities) juggle normal high school events with glamorous family functions, they discover the pitfalls of fame and the importance of friendship.
 
The Daughters is pretty close to what you would expect a novel about celebrity daughters to be like. Each of the three girls has a celebrity family that they are forced to deal with - our main character being the daughter of a famous model.

This story is focused on Lizzie and the relationship with her mom. I found the relationship to be rather real - instead of the mom buying Lizzie whatever she wanted and Lizzie being a beautiful model herself, we read about Lizzie struggling with her identity and how to connect with her mother. We do get glimpses of the other girls struggling with their families because they have lifestyles to live up to (they aren't all in the model business).

I enjoyed The Daughters as a good light read. I am glad that the author stuck to one point of view - flipping from girl to girl would have gotten very confusing. Though I would like to read the stories of the two girls that were not featured.

The Daughters is great for fans of Gossip Girl and The Hills - not a deep read by any means, but it's fun and sends fairly good messages about friendship and family in the end.