Book Blast with $50 giveaway for my favorite new author!

I'm participating in the Book Blast for Adam Sidwell - the author of EVERTASTER - one of my absolute favorite MG books from last Fall. Unique, funny as heck, well written, mysterious, adventurous - I LOVED IT. The sequel just released. So check out all the goodies below and enter at the amazing blog, I Am a Reader, Not a Writer

I also got to meet Adam Sidwell a few weeks ago at a writer's conference and he's lovely and charming - and handsome and young! Oh, my, all these *young thing* writers running around out there!

Okay, enough silly - enjoy and read his books! You'll have a blast - on Book Blast Giveaway Day!

 $50 Book Blast Giveaway – Evertaster by Adam Sidwell

The Buttersmiths’ Gold

BATTLES. BLUEBERRIES. BOVINES.

TORBJORN AND STORFJELL’S HISTORY UNFOLDS IN AN EPIC EVERTASTER NOVELLA.

Everyone knows the most coveted treasure of the Viking Age was blueberry muffins. Blueberry muffins so succulent that if you sniffed just a whiff, you’d want a whole bite. If you bit a bite, you’d want a batch; if you snatched a batch, you’d stop at nothing short of going to war just to claim them all.

Young Torbjorn Trofastsonn comes from the clan that makes them. He’s a Viking through and

through – he’s thirteen winters old, larger than most respectable rocks, and most of all, a Buttersmith. That’s what he thinks anyway, until a charismatic merchant makes Torbjorn question his place among the muffin-makers. When Torbjorn lets the secret of his clan’s muffin recipe slip, he calls doom and destruction down upon his peaceful village and forces his brother Storfjell and his clansmen to do the one thing they are ill-prepared to do: battle for their lives.

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About The Buttersmiths’ Gold

The Buttersmiths’ Gold is a spin off novella in the Evertaster series that tells the story of two Viking brothers and their adventurous past. The Evertaster series (Book #1 released June 14, 2012) is about Guster Johnsonville, who goes searching for a legendary taste rumored to be the most delicious in all of history. Along the way he meets a slew of mysterious characters, including two Viking brothers Torbjorn and Storfjell. The Buttersmiths’ Gold is their story. 124 pages. By Adam Glendon Sidwell. Published by Future House Publishing.

Evertaster, Book #1:

A legendary taste. Sought after for centuries. Shrouded in secrecy.

When eleven-year-old Guster Johnsonville rejects his mother’s casserole for the umpteenth time, she takes him into the city of New Orleans to find him something to eat. There, in a dark, abandoned corner of the city they meet a dying pastry maker. In his last breath he entrusts them with a secret: an ancient recipe that makes the most delicious taste the world will ever know — a taste that will change the fate of humanity forever.

Forced to flee by a cult of murderous chefs, the Johnsonvilles embark on a perilous journey to ancient ruins, faraway jungles and forgotten caves. Along the way they discover the truth: Guster is an Evertaster — a kid so picky that nothing but the legendary taste itself will save him from starvation. With the sinister chefs hot on Guster’s heels and the chefs’ reign of terror spreading, Guster and his family must find the legendary taste before it’s too late.

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Amazon

Author Adam Sidwell
In between books, Adam Glendon Sidwell uses the power of computers to make monsters, robots and zombies come to life for blockbuster movies such as Pirates of the Caribbean, King Kong, Transformers and Tron. After spending countless hours in front of a keyboard meticulously adjusting tentacles, calibrating hydraulics, and brushing monkey fur, he is delighted at the prospect of modifying his creations with the flick of a few deftly placed adjectives. He’s been eating food since age 7, so feels very qualified to write this book. He once showed a famous movie star where the bathroom was. Adam currently lives in Los Angeles, where he can’t wait to fall into the sea.

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BookBlast Giveaway
$50 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash
Ends 6/30/13
Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer http://iamareader.com and sponsored by the participating author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. Prize value $50 US.

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LOVED. THIS. BOOK.

The characters felt so incredibly real I started thinking I could actually get on a boat to the Island of Guernsey and meet them all in the local Pub. I want to have tea with Juliet and Dawsey. Gosh, I want to meet that guy!

You know you love a book when you hold it close to your chest and weep a few tears because the experience is over. (I admit to slowing down a little just so I could make it last longer. Does anyone else do that?)

But one of the great things about books is that you can open it up and start all over again . . . and I ran straight to my local Amazon and bought copies to give away.

I also think it's so sad that the author, Mary Ann Shaffer, never got to see the great success and popularity of her novel, especially when she spent YEARS and YEARS researching and working on this wonderfully special book.

My Top Ten Favorites of 2008

Make that my top TWELVE favorite books of 2008 because I can't narrow it down more than that. It's just too hard! I LOVED most of what I read this year.

So I rounded 'em up, whipped 'em into shape and here's my grand total: I read 75 books during 2008 - a great mix of middle-grade, YA and adult novels and nonfiction.

Here's my list, but in NO particular order. I refuse to pick any sort of *winner*. These were all fabulous books by fabulous writers, and I loved reading them!


1. RED GLASS


2. OPHELIA: A NOVEL


3. ONE WHOLE AND PERFECT DAY


4. REPOSSESSED


5. SEER OF SHADOWS


6. SONG OF THE SPARROW


7. MY ONE HUNDRED ADVENTURES


8. MOXY MAXWELL


9. HUNGER GAMES


10. IVY


11. UNDERCOVER


12. THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX



An OH, MY GOSH, P.S.

I forgot one of the best books I read this last year!!!

In my hurry, I did not check all my stacks of books . . .

But this is WONDERFUL and by one of the best writers and women I know!




It's tough when many of my favorites for the year were read 9 months ago . . .

I really need to clean up my desk and bookcases and shelves and files . . .

It's on the TO DO list for 2009.

Childhood Favorites with My Twin

I get to be a twin today! Barbara O’ Connor, one of my favorite children’s writers – and one of my *best* writing friends EVER is my look-alike. We're doing twin blogs about our favorite childhood books. Be sure to read hers, too! barboconnor and Greetings From Nowhere.

1. The books I read the most in just sheer numbers were NANCY DREW mysteries. I also read just about every Phyllis Whitney mystery too. I received my very first Nancy Drew, THE HIDDEN WINDOW MYSTERY, when I was eleven from a 3^rd grade teacher. At lunchtime I'd go into her classroom and grade papers or cut out bulletin board art. I loved helping Miss Aungst and she was so nice and so pretty. She gave me THE HIDDEN WINDOW as a thank you gift at the end of the school year. In 6^th grade at an orthodontist appointment I was, of course, reading a Nancy Drew mystery, probably THE CLUE IN THE ATTIC while reclining in the chair waiting for the doctor when the assistant told me that she had some Nancy Drew’s at home that used to belong to her mother. At my next appt. she brought me AN ENTIRE BOX of First Edition Nancy Drew’s, published in the 1940s. I wonder what they’re worth? I still have them. They have blue covers and no cover art, published before the yellow ones in the 60s and 70s.

2. THE LITTLE WHITE HORSE by Elizabeth Goudge. My mother found this book in a magazine that had a “Books to Check Out” list. I was always looking for the next book to read since I read one every single day. I loved, loved, loved this book. It’s got everything - the *olden days* as I used to call the 1800s as a kid, mystery, danger, magic, and a bit of romance and fairy tale.


3. HARRIET THE SPY by Louise Fitzhugh. I became Harriet. I kept a notebook. I spied on people. I wrote my own stories. But I never got in trouble or dissed my friends.

4. MAGIC ELIZABETH by Norma Kassirer. I couldn’t even tell you how many times I read this book I loved it so much. And I still have my original copy.



5. SUZIE AND THE BALLET FAMILY by Lee Wyndham. I love ballet and devoured this wonderful series over and over again. My mother let me buy the whole set through the Scholastic book club. 35 - 50 cents for a book back then! Mind-boggling.

6. TO DANCE, TO DREAM by Maxine Drury. 10 stories about the real lives of famous dancers through the last three centuries: Maria Taglioni, Isadora Duncan, Anna Pavlova, Margot Fonteyn and ending with Maria Tallchief. My favorite was Anna Pavlova – I was mesmerized reading about Anna’s ballet slippers and how she tore them apart and re-sewed them before each performance.

My copy of this wonderful volume is inscribed: “To Kimberley on your ninth birthday. With love and best wishes from Uncle Dave, Aunt Mabel, Debra, Greg, Scott and Lisa.”

7. HELEN KELLER’S TEACHER by Margaret Davidson.

8. LADY WITH A LAMP, Florence Nightingale. Awesome woman.

9. NELLIE BLY, REPORTER. Very cool chick. I was shocked at Nellie’s nerve to get herself admitted to an insane asylum so that she could uncover the truth about what was happening inside. Talk about guts! I also read a book about a woman who became a Confederate spy but I can’t remember the title. The thing that stuck with me was when she actually chewed and swallowed an incriminating note one time to keep from getting caught. Wow.

10. A LANTERN IN HER HAND by Bess Street Aldrich. HISTORICAL FICTION AT IT’S BEST! That’s all I have to say. This is definitely one of the first *cross-over* books that both YA’s and adults have loved - long before that term was coined a few years ago.



Now don't forget to read Barb's Favorites - after all - we're twins today!