GIVEAWAY!! "Amarok" by Angela J. Townsend~YA Fabulous!

SUMMARY : 
 

Emma's life has been hell since she moved from sunny California to a remote Alaskan town. Abandoned by her father and living with the guilt of causing her mother's death, she makes a desperate dash for freedom from her abusive stepfather. But when her car skids off the icy road, her planned escape leads to further captivity in a world beyond her imagining.

Dragged across the tundra by an evil mountain man and his enormous black wolf, she learns that love can be found in the most unexpected places. Amarok, as she's nicknamed the wolf, is a young man from the gold-rush era enslaved by an ancient shaman. Emma's gentle touch and kind heart win his love and devotion. When a vicious madman—trapped in bear form by the same Shaman—attacks the travelers and injures Amarok, Emma must find the strength to face her fears and free the wolf she's come to love. But that means she must face down the evil shaman, a Siberian mammoth hunter from the ice age, and he has no intention of giving up his power to her.

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :
Published by:  Spencer Hill Press
Pages:  181
Genre:  YA/Paranormal
Author:  Angela J. Townsend
Pre-order here:  Barnes & Noble  and Amazon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR :
Angela Townsend was born in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Missoula, Montana.  As a child, Angela grew up listening to stories told by her grandparents, ancient tales and legends of faraway places.

Influenced by her Irish and Scottish heritage, Angela became an avid research historian, specialzing in Celtic mythology.  Her gift for storytelling finally led her to a full-time career in historical research and writing.

A writer in local community circulations, Angela is also a published genealogical and historical resource writer who has taught numerous research seminars.  Currently, she divides her time among writing, playing Celtic music on her fiddle and Irish dancing.  She resides on a ranch, in rural Northwestern, Montana, with her two children Levi and Grant.

THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

I wasn't expecting to love this book as much as I did!  I've been very selective with YA fiction lately, and this is one I chose hesitantly but carefully because it sounded out-of-the-ordinary.  Just a touch of the paranormal and much more in the mystery/suspense realm, I thought.  I'm so glad I took a chance on it.  It was a great read for a lazy Sunday afternoon.  It was absorbing as it moved along quickly, relating action and responses from the two main characters. Further, it was full of ancient mythological shadowings and very good writing.  I love Angela J. Townsend's style.  Her storytelling is first class.

Emma, her female protagonist, is feisty and resourceful.  I loved her determination not to be beaten by her ragged and violent captor, the brutal weather conditions, nor the supernatural odds stacked against her.  She fought through everything, but Townsend's handling of these situations didn't seem contrived or flippant.  They were natural and exciting to read.  The pace of the book was settled securely around Emma's story and her relationship with Amarok, the enchanted wolf/boy.  He's also a gorgeous character who wasn't made of the fluffy stuff you often encounter in other current mythologically-inclined books. 

For all its swiftly moving story, this novel has substance and is a great read.  Townsend packs a punch without mincing words, which I really treasure.  Her grasp of the natural settings of the mountains and tundra, and her abilitiy to translate that for us adds life and realism to the book...I could smell the pine and hear the river rapids, sense the animals in their habitats.  The way she employs the transitions from historical memories of the wolf/boy Amarok to present day Emma's world gives this book depth and interest, as well.

I'm not sure if she's planning a sequel to the book, but I would love to read it, if she is.  If not, the ending was too short and sweet; my only criticism. This is a very interesting book with a gentle love story and a believeable twist on the mythological.

I recommend it.  Now available for a pre-release purchase.  Released in November...

4.5 stars             Deborah/TheBookishDame




GIVEAWAY!!!!!     ENTER FOR A COPY OF "AMAROK":

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GIVEAWAY  ENDS       OCTOBER 31st

ALSO!!!!

 

Spencer Hill Press is offering a prize package to ONE winner throughout the tour that includes a copy of Amarok, a $25 Amazon gift card and wolf charm necklace.

 

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"Lone Wolf" Jodi Picoult's Latest Doesn't Howl



Jodi Picoult's novel of family and natural instincts falls short
 only in the abilitiy to have a strong impact throughout. 
The best part was the information
on the wolves.

Published by:  Atria/Simon & Schuster
Pages:  421
See:  http://www.jodipicoult.com/


Summary:

A life hanging in the balance . . . a family torn apart. The #1 internationally bestselling author Jodi Picoult tells an unforgettable story about family secrets, love, and letting go.

In the wild, when a wolf knows its time is over, when it knows it is of no more use to its pack, it may sometimes choose to slip away. Dying apart from its family, it stays proud and true to its nature. Humans aren’t so lucky.

Luke Warren has spent his life researching wolves. He has written about them, studied their habits intensively, and even lived with them for extended periods of time. In many ways, Luke understands wolf dynamics better than those of his own family. His wife, Georgie, has left him, finally giving up on their lonely marriage. His son, Edward, twenty-four, fled six years ago, leaving behind a shattered relationship with his father. Edward understands that some things cannot be fixed, though memories of his domineering father still inflict pain. Then comes a frantic phone call: Luke has been gravely injured in a car accident with Edward’s younger sister, Cara.

Suddenly everything changes: Edward must return home to face the father he walked out on at age eighteen. He and Cara have to decide their father’s fate together. Though there’s no easy answer, questions abound: What secrets have Edward and his sister kept from each other? What hidden motives inform their need to let their father die . . . or to try to keep him alive? What would Luke himself want? How can any family member make such a decision in the face of guilt, pain, or both? And most importantly, to what extent have they all forgotten what a wolf never forgets: that each member of a pack needs the others, and that sometimes survival means sacrifice?

Another tour de force by Picoult, Lone Wolf brilliantly describes the nature of a family: the love, protection, and strength it can offer—and the price we might have to pay for those gifts. What happens when the hope that should sustain a family is the very thing tearing it apart?

The Dames Review:


Disappointed.  I wanted to love this book.  I tried to find interest in the human struggle, but it failed in light of the naturalist information of Luke Warren and his wolf pack.    What happened after a while was that the book wained and fizzled out.  The question or the moral dilemma regarding what constitutes "life" in brain damage and vegetative states was simply not tackled here in earnest, and that left a gaping hole.  Cara's and Edward's tug of war over "pulling the plug" or not on their father, and who should do it because one was beloved more than the other, acted as the central point of the novel.  I felt it was a book not well thought out.  Something was missing.  Something important was left out that should have anchored the whole. 


I'm a huge Picoult fan who sits on the edge of my chair when I have a new novel of hers in my hands.  I struggled through the beginning of this book because I kept  hoping it would pick up.  I loved the parts about the behaviors of wolves in the wild and how Luke Warren found a way to become a part of them.  What I found watered down, the human family parts of the story, made the book boring and took away from it as a whole.  The family secrets were over rated.


This isn't Jodi Picoult at her best.  I'm sorry I can only rate this book at a C level.  It's a book I'd only recommend to friends and readers as an eBook or paperback option.


3.5 stars howling at the moon in sadness


Deborah/TheBookishDame

 


NOTE:  I apologize for any strangeness you see on my blog at this time.  I'm having problems with my computer!!

My Week In Book Buying ~ Or~ What's Now in My Stacks

I didn't spend half this week in one book store or another, but I did spend most of the time there! I just felt I needed a refreshing of the stacks.  Just some books I had to have right now... Please, don't frown...

Seriously couldn't wait to get my hands on this one.  A woman with

chronic amnesia after an injury

 whose husband tells her who she is and

that she loves him.  She finds a note in her

diary to herself not to trust him...

OMGosh, I would be so freaked!

I was nothing short of sickened when I found out

that I hadn't received an early review copy

of my very favorite author's new book!

Joshilyn Jackson is a writer I live to read.

Simple as that.

Any words that come from her are like delicious green apples.

Note the cover of this book.

Had to own this newest in the dystopian

YA fiction variety for my library.

I'm actually in the middle of the ebook and it's a

not-to-be-missed read.

Cool  cover...lots of pages.

What's a year's read without Jodi?

I wait patiently for her next book wondering

if it's going to be controversial.

It nearly always is.

I love to be in the thick of things, gettin' down & dirty with Jodi. LOL

This one is starting out really well!

Okay.  Here's a "caught you with the cover" book,

and a "caught you with Meg Cabot" book, at the same time.

I've heard a good deal about Ms Cabot in YA circles,

and thought I would try her out with this one.

It's had such mixed reviews...

have to see what I think.

A "pollster" at the sidebar requested a review! Yay!!

I'll let you know!  vv

I loved Amy Hatvany's "Outside the Lines"

which I reviewed last month.

This one deals with a divorced mother who drinks

so much she leaves her small son alone one

night while she runs to the

liquor store...Her ex-husband comes by

and finds him there alone, and her subsequently drunk.

Amy Hatvany is a chillingly frank writer who can move you to serious tears.

Had to have this paperback.

Have you been waiting like I've been waiting for this one?

I had to have it.  Enough said.

These books found their way to my house somehow, as well:

Reviews coming soon ~

"The Orchid House" by Lucinda Riley

"Shatter" by Michael Robotham

"A Promise of Safekeeping" by Lisa Dale

"Replication: The Jason Experiment" by Jill Williamson

"Invisible Boy" by Cornelia Read

"The Anatomist's Apprentice" by Tessa Harris

"The Jasmine Trade" by Denise Hamilton

"Lifeboat" by Charlotte Rogan

"The Book of Madness and Cures" by Regina O'Melveny

"Gone with a Handsomer Man" by Michael Lee West

So, what did you find at the bookstore this past week?   Any comments on these books?  I'm dying to know if you've read any of them, yet.

Deb/TheBookishDame