This week I'm giving away: Hardcover of The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand
This book was supplied by Hachette Book Groups. Read my review of the Castaways and then enter to win your own copy!
Rules: US Addresses only - to enter: +1 - leave a comment with why you want to read this +1 - Tell me your favorite book so far this year
That's it! Contest is open until July 27, 2009, 11:59 pm EST - good luck! Don't forget to include your email address! Winner will be posted on Friday, August 1, 2009 on the Friday Five.
Meet the MacAvoys, The Kapenashes, The Wheelers, and The Drakes: Four couples who do most everything together. They all live on Nantucket Island. Sharing their daily lives and vacations, helping to raise each other's children, spending every Sunday together. Now, it's time for Tess and Greg to celebrate their anniversary, alone. Everyone is a little nervous because 1. Greg and Tess have been having marital problems, 2. Greg is not the best sailor, and 3. The weather is predicting a storm. When Greg and Tess don't come back - each person has to deal with the loss in their own way. No one person knows any other person fully as we see through the eyes of the friends the MacAvoys left behind.
"They just called to say there was an accident. And the MacAvoys are dead." (p5)
This is the perfect beach read: engaging, mysterious, romantic, and thought-provoking. The story is told with an alternating view-point. We hear part of the story from the Chief, Addison, Jeffrey, and Andrea. Andrea is Tess' cousin and married to the Chief. Jeffrey used to date Andrea. And Addison, well, there's a lot more going on with Addison than first appears. We then meet Delilah and Phoebe. Delilah, she's the fun one, who came up with the group name, who makes sure the conversation is lively. She's married to Jeffrey. Phoebe is married to Addison and she's decided that life is better self-medicated.
Elin Hilderbrand does a wonderful job of filling in the details of everyone's lives. We flashback from a variety of characters and slowly begin to piece the story together as we move to the present day. Along the way, we also get a glimpse of how Greg and Tess' lives affected all the other couples.
Hilderbrand was able to give each character a distinct voice and set of circumstances that helped you to keep track of who was speaking and what was going on. Throughout the book, the readers has opportunities to put the puzzle together right before things are revealed to the character.
The story moves forward quickly and there's just the right amount of tension. The ending left things on a light note that gave the readers a sense of satisfaction. Great book! Highly recommended.
Author Talk Elin Hilderbrand lives on Nantucket with her husband and their three young children. She grew up in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, and traveled extensively before settling on Nantucket, which has been the setting for her five previous novels. Hilderbrand is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the graduate fiction workshop at the University of Iowa.
It's Monday, What Are You Reading is the place I try to decide how I'm going to spend my week and is hosted by J. Kaye's Book Blog. Lately, I haven't been meeting my goals. So during What Are You Reading 6/22, I decided to stop looking at the number of books I read and focus instead on how many pages I've read. Let's see how I did:
Finished Reality Check by Peter Abrahams (330) - read it in two sittings! Fairy Tale by Cyn Balog (248) - loved this one! The Vanishing Sculptor by Donita K. Paul (180/390) - I reviewed The Vanishing Sculptor and have a copy to giveaway. The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand (111/359)- blog tour July 9th and Contest Monday July 13th. ghostgirl by Tonya Hurley (328) - Contest Monday giveaway - tomorrow! Game On! Diet Challenge by Krista Vernoff and AZ Ferguson - I reviewed Game On! and talked about how I'm going to try and incorporate this with some other bloggers.
How did I do? I read 1,295 pgs and 3 of 4 books I wanted to finish plus 2 other books! I'm predicting a comeback!
Abandoned Being Nikki by Meg Cabot - I just didn't want to put any more time into reading this. I feel so much better!
Started Emma by Jane Austen (12/438) The Heights by Brian James (17/246) The Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiana (26/269) Wings by Aprilynne Pike (43/290)
Upcoming This week I want to start my Shakespearean Summer Challenge, Everything Jane Austen Challenge, and read some of my library books. I have 32 books checked out!!!!!! Luckily, I only work 2 days this week (yeah!) although I do have homework (boo!). Ok, here's what I'm thinking:
Emma by Jane Austen (426/438) - love Austen! The Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiana (243/269)- Library book (lb) Wings by Aprilynne Pike (247/290)- lb Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson (100) - lb and I can finally read Peace, Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson (134) -lb and Are You My Newbery? The Great Call of China by Cynthea Liu (246) -lb and homework Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (287) - No Fear Shakespeare version with complete text and side by side translation!
Ok, that's 1,683 pgs - 667 more than last week. I should be able to do it though! Right?
Normally I post this over at Book Blather but I've decided I want to do it here instead. Each week bloggers review what books they've finished, started, and what their reading plans are for the upcoming week. I do this because it helps me to see I'm not very good at planning my reading! J/K! If you want to play along, sign up at J. Kaye's Book Blog.
Finished
Lost and Found by Andrew Clements (161) - Great book about twins. One brother's file gets misplaced at school and they decide to take this time to pretend there's only one person not two. Not only does it give them a chance to feel what's it's like NOT being mistaken for someone else but 1/2 the time they don't go to school! Win-win right? Definite school purchase.
Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen (383)- Another Dessen romantic hit. It was awesome. Read my review here. Definite school purchase.
As you see, I didn't finish a single book that was on my original plan list.
Started
Being Nikki by Meg Cabot (124/336) - good but not keeping my interest as well as Airhead.
The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand (248/359) - really enjoying this one! If only I didn't have to work!
The Vanishing Sculptor by Donita K. Paul (210/390) - good but not engrossing. I wrote about it on Sunday Salon.
Upcoming
Well, I feel better when I look at my page count - 1,126! I'm not slacking after all! I'm reading more than my avg 240pg - 4 books per week. I think I'll continue listing page count as it gives me a different perspective.
The Vanishing Sculptor - Blog Tour and Giveaway - June 25
Ghostgirl (328) and Ghostgirl:Homecoming by TonyaHurley (285) - Author Interview - July 1 Contest Monday - June 29
The Castaways - Blog Tour - July 9 Contest Monday - July 13
Looks like a goal of 1,016 pgs. I should then have time to get caught up on reviews too!
