The 2010 100+ Book Challenge

1. The goal is to read 100 or more books. Anyone can join. You don't need a blog to participate.

--Non-Bloggers: Post your list of books in the comment section of the wrap-up post. To learn how to sign up without having a blog, click here.

2. Audio, Re-reads, eBooks, YA, Library books, Young Reader, Nonfiction – as long as the book has an ISBN or equivalent or can be purchased as such, the book counts.

3. No need to list your books in advance. You may select books as you go. Even if you list them now, you can change the list if needed.

4. Crossovers from other reading challenges count.

5. Challenge begins January 1st thru December, 2010. Books started before the 1st do not count.

6. When you sign up under Mr. Linky, (HERE) put the direct link to your post where your books will be listed. Include the URL to this post so that other viewers can find this fun challenge. If you’d prefer to put your list in the sidebar of your blog, please leave your viewers the link to the sign up page. Again, so viewers can join the challenge too.

MY BOOK LIST (So Far)

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
2. Take One by Karen Kingsbury
3. Take Two by Karen Kingsbury
4. Take Three by Karen Kingsbury (March 2010)
5. Take Four by Karen Kingsbury (June 2010)
6. Swinging in a Star by Janice Thompson
7. Limelight by Melody Carlson
8. Thirsty by Tracey Bateman
9. Stretch Marks by Kimberly Stuart
10. She's Gonna Blow by Julie Ann Barnhill
11. Real Moms real Jesus by Jill Savage
12. The Ministry of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson
13. Me, Just Different by Stephanie Morrill
14. The Familiar Stranger by Christina Berry
15. Out of Her hands by Megan DiMaria
16. 
    

(More to come later!)

A Totally Huge Royal Giveaway!

Park Avenue Princess is giving away an amazing prize!

YOUR Choice of either a Kindle 2, Sony Reader or the New Barnes & Noble Nook!

Contest will be going on until December 24th at Midnight EST and WOW! What a Holiday Gift this is!

Winners will be announced right here on Park-Avenue Princess January 1, 2010! Happy New Year!

Matthew Carter (author of Liquid Soul) will be giving away YOUR Choice of either a Kindle 2, Sony Reader or the New Barnes & Noble Nook to ONE VERY lucky winner,

and signed copies of LIQUID SOUL and Two Amazon Gift Cards.

Contest open to readers worldwide and will run until 11:59 pm EST 12/24!

Winners announced January 1, 2010.

Click the logo to be taken to the contest page to sign up!

Awesome Giveaway~ Win book of your choice!

Awesome GIVEAWAY @ Out of the Blue

Enter to win the book of your choice!

Click the logo to be taken to her site to enter!

Good Luck!

If I win, I'm going to get Another Way Home by Christa Parrish,

what book would you get if you win?

A Giveaway..... check out Lori's site!

Lori at Some of my Favorite Things

has an awesome giveaway going on!

The winner gets to pick one of these books!

Visit her site to enter!

Good Luck!

My First Blog Award--- Thank You

Thanks Julie at One Rainy Afternoon for this award!

Pass it on!!

Accept the "One Lovely Blog Award": Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Some of my new favorite blogs that I enjoy:

Carmen @ A Sequence of Continuous Delights

Dee @ Christian Fiction

Jay @ Darling Chemineau

Michelle @ Edgy Inspiration Author

Karri @ Fiction Fanatics Only!

Nora @ Finding Hope Through Fiction

Southern Country Wife @ I Need To Read

Kristie @ Moments

StoneFox @ Moms, Ministry and More

Peg @ Sips 'n Cups and Reading Room

Kim @ The Book Butterfly

Stacey @ WORD up!

Lori @ Some of My Favorite Books

Happy Reading!

Win a Kindle.... Here's how!

WIN A BRAND NEW KINDLE!!!

I so want one of these! I entered to win!

You should enter too!

"It's hard not to love Amazon's new e-book reader. For starters, it's gorgeous. Unlike its bulky predecessor, the redesigned Kindle is light, thin, and disappears in your hands. If you think there's no way you could ever get used to curling up with an electronic reader, you haven't given the Kindle a chance. Load up a good book and you'll soon forget you're reading plastic rather than paper. You'll also wonder how you ever did without it. The Kindle makes buying, storing, and organizing your favorite books and magazines effortless. You can take your entire library with you wherever you go and switch from reading the latest New Yorker to the latest best-seller without rolling out of bed. In my few days using it, I was won over: The Kindle is the future of publishing." - Farhad Manjoo, Slate

A perfect holiday gift for you or someone you love (valued at $259)

That's why Noobie is excited to announce we are giving away a brand-new Kindle, valued at $259.00, just in time for the holidays. All you need to do is fill out the form below for your chance to win. Noobie will take care of the rest!

Here's how to enter

Enter HERE! It will redirect you to Noobie Website then....

simply fill out the form. When you are done, click the Submit Form button at the bottom of the page to send your contest submission to Noobie. That's all there is to it! What are you waiting for? You have absolutely nothing to lose.

Noobie's Kindle Giveaway will end on December 10th, 2009 at 11:59 P.M. ET. The drawing for the Kindle will take place on or about December 14th, 2009.

High Street by Jack Stinson ~BOOK GIVEAWAY~

WE HAVE A WINNER~~LINDA is the winner of this autographed book! Congrats!!!

Product Description

Jamie Boyer sits in a stark homeless shelter in one of the seedier areas just off of High Street, certain that he has messed up his life forever.

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT

When did you get started as a writer?

About 12 years ago. I finally just started writing ... went to the library and started reading books on how to write.

Did you always want to be a writer?

Yes, at least since High School. I sort of shrugged it off when I went to college. (I decided to go into Engineering instead.) It was many years before I decided to really try.

Where do you get your inspiration/story ideas?

My life experiences, and those of others that I know. For High Street, I helped in a homeless ministry for quite a while and got my inspiration from that.

Who is your biggest cheerleader?

That would be my wife, Regina. She's also an excellent proofreader -- she catches inconsistencies and errors that most others miss.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

Frank Perretti is the best. I also read a lot of the secular author James Patterson.

When can we expect your next book?

I'm just really getting started with a new novel. Hopefully I'll be finished by the end of next year.

My Review

Wow! Wow! Wow! (Did I say wow?!)

Following Jamie from his semi-shelter life on his family farm in Shelby County downhill to the depths that High Street has to offer was an amazing journey that I would take again.

Jamie's dive into drugs and alcohol takes him down a road that no man willingly goes. Jamie's poor choices puts him in situations that he knows he needs his parents and God's help, but his pride keeps him from reaching out for help.

While Jamie fights with his inner demons, his mom back in Shelby County is realizing more adn more how much she needs God. Martha, Jamie's mom, is worried about Jamie. There's been no phone calls, no letters home, no visits for home cooked meals and Martha is getting more and more worried. It doesn't help to know that the kid Jamie went off to school with has gotten involved in hard drugs, the news only makes Martha worry more.

Jack does an amazing job capturing Jamie's battle, physically, mentally and spiritually. The ride it well worth it with an ending that will leave you saying WOW!

CONTEST: Drawing held by random selection on the evening of DECEMBER 1. (My birthday!)

Do you want to read High Street? Well, Jack has willing signed and given me a copy to give to one of you lucky readers. So here's how to enter. (Can earn one entry for each of the following.)

+ 1 ~ Leave a comment. (With a way for me to contact you if you are the winner!)

+2 ~Link back to this post on your blog, on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

and then leave a comment here with the link. (Again, included an email or way for me to contact you.)

+3 Become a follower of this blog. Then leave a comment saying you did so. (Again, Leave an email addy!)

Good Luck!

*This book was a gift from the author. My review was not paid for and the fact of a free book does not change my review of this book.

When Heaven Comes Down by Che Ahn

Product Description "If we want to know God personally, to relate to Him intimately," says international evangelist Chè Ahn, "we must be prepared to receive and experience his glory." Born out of his personal experiences with numerous revival movements around the world, Ahn provides insights into the manifest presence of God--his glory--showing how it reveals both his character and his power. But Ahn takes it deeper by exploring the ways God's glory is displayed. Ahn also discusses God's purposes for revealing his glory, how he uses it to make us one with him, how his glory calls us to holiness, and much more. An invaluable resource, this book will appeal to believers who are looking to go deeper with God and allow his glory to transform them. "Show me your glory!" was Moses' cry--and it has become Ché Ahn's. Born out of his personal experiences with numerous revival movements around the world, he now provides you with insights into the manifest presence of God--his glory. By showing how it reveals both God’s character and power, Ahn also shows how you can receive more of it and how God uses this to make us one with him. My Review A lot of 'spiritual' books are preachy, boring and dull. When Heaven Comes Down is NOT one of those! Che does an amazing job of capturing the true stories he shares in such a captivating way. This was a book that keep my attention and changed me! It revived the passion that I once had for God and His work. It re- sparked the memories I have of a teen growing up in a very charismatic church. A church that saw heaven come down. This book is a great resource for any one who knows, realizes, believes or has a hunch that there is more to 'religion' than just 'religion' itself. This is a book that every Christian should read! It will challenge you, it will convict you, it will change you. *This book was a gift from the publisher for me to review. The fact that I was gifted the book has not affect on my opinion of this book.

Watch Over Me by Christa Parrish

Product Description

Her Rescue Might Be the Miracle They Needed

Things like this don't happen in Beck County.

Deputy Benjamin Patil is the one to find the infant girl, hours old, abandoned in a field.

As police work to identify the mother, Ben and his wife, Abbi, seem like the obvious couple to serve as foster parents. But the newborn's arrival opens old wounds for Abbi and shines a harsh light on how much Ben has changed since a devastating military tour.

Their marriage teeters on the brink and now they must choose to reclaim what they once had or lose each other forever.

My Review

This was the first book I read by Christa Parrish. Christa can tell an amazing story, and for that I will be adding her to the list of authors I will keep up with in the future.

In Watch Over Me, we follow a young married couple who are struggling, a deaf teenager who is independently defying the odds against him, all who have fallen in love with the newborn baby who was left to die in a field.

As Ben, who is struggling with the aftermaths of serving in Afghanistan, works the case of putting the few clues together, Abbi devotes her life into caring for this unwanted baby girl. It's no secret that Ben and Abbi are having marital problems. Abbi suffers from a poor self-image and struggles with her weight. Ben is so lost and mad at God for the things he did, saw and lost in the war. Their life is falling apart, is this baby the answer they need to put this marriage back together?

In comes Matt, a deaf teenage boy who have been left deaf and in kidney failure due to a rare genetic disease. In this small town, Matt is looking for odd jobs to earn some money. He begins to spend a lot of time with Abbi and the baby, mowing the lawn, babysitting while Abbi naps, showers and catches up on her hobby of pottery making.

The twist that happens as the case is cracked is somewhat predictable, still the journey was worth the ride. Parrish does an unbelievable job of capturing the heart of the character and drawing you in. Her characters are real, almost tangible. I'd love to sit down for coffee with Abbi and know more about her, what drives her, what challenges her, what helps her.

POSSIBLE SPOILER: I have one major problem with this book, I believe with all my heart that any married couple who is having the problems, both as a couple or individually, as Ben and Abbi were, they need to seek help, counseling or the like. Though being physically close to your spouse during the hard times is important, it does not solve problems. And yes, though praying together and attending church together is strengthening to any marriage, whether good or struggling; working through things, talking, even counseling are needed. I wish that Christa would have mentioned that they signed up for counseling or that either or both of them sought out professional help. To me, this would have made this book from a good one to a great one.

*This book was a gift from the publisher for me to review. The fact that I was gifted the book has not affect on my opinion of this book.

Fools Rush In by Janice Thompson

Product Description

Bella Rossi may be nearing thirty, but her life is just starting to get interesting. When her Italian-turned-Texan parents hand over the family wedding planning business, Bella is determined not to let them down. She quickly books a "Boot Scoot'n" wedding that would make any Texan proud. There's only one catch--she's a country music numbskull because her family only listens to Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Where will she find a DJ on such short notice who knows his Alan Jackson from his Keith Urban?

When a misunderstanding leads her to the DJ (and man) of her dreams, things start falling into place. But with a family like hers, nothing is guaranteed. Can the perfect Texan wedding survive a pizza-making uncle with mob ties, an aunt who is a lawsuit waiting to happen, and a massive delivery of 80 cowboy boots? And will Bella ever get to plan her own wedding?

Book one in the Weddings by Bella series, Fools Rush In is fun, fresh, and full of surprises. Readers will love the flavorful combination of Italian and Tex-Mex, and the hilarity that ensues when cultures clash.

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT

When did you get started as a writer? Did it come natural?

I've always written (from the time I was a child). I wrote my first book in sixth grade, believe it or not. It was a Bobbsey Twins book. Writing comes very naturally. At a fairly young age, whenever someone needed something written (a newsletter, a skit, etc.) they would say, "Give it to Janice. She can do it." And I could. It was sort of an inborn, innate thing. As far as when I "got started" on a more professional level, I started writing seriously (with publication in mind) in 1994. I started with magazine articles because I'd been told at a conference they were easy to sell. I sold about fifty of them before selling my first book in 1999. The book released in 2000 and I've published over fifty since. It's been quite a ride!

Did you always want to be a writer? If not, what did you want to do/be?

When I was young, I always fancied myself an actress or a singer. I grew up performing. (I studied theater arts in college.) Now I spend my days writing the characters and pushing them around on the page. I still get to tell them where to go and what to do, which is always fun. And by the way, I direct at a local Christian theater, so my love for drama hasn't faded, either!

Where do you get your inspiration/story ideas?

Life! Seriously, everything is a story idea to me. I can look at a small child playing with her mother and create a story in my head. I can sit in a restaurant and look at the somber expression on a waiter's face and find a story there. I can go on a road trip with my mom and travel through a small town, where ideas start popping into my head. I'm one of those overly-creative types. I never lack for stories. I only lack for time to write them all.

Who is your biggest cheerleaders?

My four daughters. They are all in their twenties and all married, but they still find the time to cheer me on with every new book contract. I'll get random Facebook posts from them, along with photos of my books. (For instance, my oldest just sent me a picture of one of my books she found at a local Barnes and Noble. My third-oldest just sent me a copy of one of my books she found at a local WalMart.) They are very proud of their mama and want me to know it. They also help bring in more readers. Just yesterday one of my girls called to tell me that she'd been talking about me behind my back (in a good way) to several ladies she'd met and they all wanted to read my books. Talk about a cheerleader!

Who are some of your favorite authors?

I love some of the classics (John Steinbeck/The Pearl, Remarque/All Quiet On the Western Front) but I love "new" writers, too. I particularly love Linda Nichols (At the Scene of Water), Nancy Jo Jenkins (Coldwater Revival) and several comedic authors: Ginny Smith, Trish Perry, Megan DiMaria, Ray Blackston, Robin Jones Gunn, etc.

My Review

It has been a little while since I have found a new author that can grasp my heart like Janice did. I laughed my way through much of it and got some crazy looks from my kids as mom laughed out loud, all because of a book!

I love the light-heartedness of this story and the silliness of the Rossi family, in many ways they remind me of some of my family... a little wild, a little country, a little religious, a little Holy-Spirit led, a little Hispanic (opposed to Italian!) and ALOT crazy.

I finished reading this book in three days. (I have 5 kids, I homeschool three of them and chase the other two, who are twin 2 year old boys, around the house... so I am a very busy mommy and homemaker.)

The Rossi family in general is hard not to fall in love with. Bella and her 'real-ness' will capture the mind of every young woman in love and every woman who was once young and in love.

Janice's writing style is light and hilarious. She'll have you laughing, day-dreaming and falling in love all over again!

There are only three other Christian romance authors that keep my attention like Janice Thompson did... Dee Henderson, Robin Jones Gunn and Karen Kingsbury, so I rate her among the 'big dogs'.

This was the first book I read by Janice and I went to my local bookstores in search, but nobody had any in store... but Amazon is only a click away!

She is a MUST-READ if you like books by Karen Kingsbury, Robin Jones Gunn and Dee Henderson.

Thanks for this adventure, Janice! I can't wait to get deeper in with Bella and DJ and the rest of the Rossi family.

*This book was a gift from the publisher for me to review. The fact that I was gifted the book has not affect on my opinion of this book.

Leaving Yesterday by Kathryn Cushman

Product Description

A Powerful Drama of a Mother's Unfailing Love

Alisa Stewart feels like she's lost two sons: her youngest to a terrible tragedy and her eldest, Kurt, to a life ruined by addiction. But now Kurt has checked himself into rehab and found a healing faith that seems real. It's like he's been raised from the dead. But then a detective arrives at Alisa's door asking questions about a murder--the death of a drug dealer before Kurt entered rehab. Alisa fears losing her son again, and when she finds evidence linking him to the killing, she destroys it. Her boy is different now. He's changed and deserves a second chance. But when another man is charged with the crime, Alisa finds herself facing an impossible choice: be silent and keep her son or give up everything for the truth.

My Review

I had read somewhere in the cyber world that Kathryn Cushman's writing style was similar to Karen Kingsbury, and I love Karen Kingsbury... so when I was given the opportunity by BethanyHouse Publishing to read and review Leaving Yesterday by Kathryn Cushman I jumped on it quick.

I was not disappointed!

Though I it took about 10 chapters (the book is forty-three chapters) to get 'captured' to where I had to keep, I enjoyed it and would place her right up there with Karen Kingsbury.

This story will tear at every mother's heart. I have five kids and though they are all young now, I did lie in bed questioning how far, as a Christian woman, I would go to protect my kids.

Even though this is a "Christian Fiction" any mother would easily relate. Kathryn does an awesome job of capturing a mothers heart and the true struggle that a mother, Christian or not, would have if her son was accused of a hideous crime.

In the deep Christian aspect, Kathryn touches on another soul-stirring topic of our real personal relationship with Christ. No relationship is perfect and no relationship is trial-free, but how are we when a trial really does come our way. Deep inside do we doubt, yet act all strong to those around us, those who look up to us? When the waves rage against us, do we hide in our strength or do we fall into the arms of Jesus? Where are we really putting our trust? Do we really know Christ, personally?

Through Leaving Yesterday, Kathryn helped remind me that my walk needs to be a daily walk. If I am saying that my trust is in Christ, then it needs to really be there! If I say that I am a Christian -a follower of Christ- then it needs to be in the open and behind closed doors.

Though it had a slow start, Leaving Yesterday was a great read with a great reminder. You won't be disappointed!

*This book was a gift from the publisher for me to review. The fact that I was gifted the book has not affect on my opinion of this book.