Freda's Voice

Welcome to the Family Day edition of Monthly News. Family Day is a holiday in some parts of Canada, like Ontario, where I'm from. The government needed a holiday, lucky for us. It was also my two year Blogoversary on August 2! But with all the drama of my brother's passing, I forgot to post anything.... read about that HERE . BOOKS: 1. Animals Alive 2. River Song - Melody Carlson (recommend) 3. The Marked Son - Shea Berkley (recommend) 4. Dael and the Painted People - Allan Richard Shickman (recommend) 5. Safe from the Past - Patricia Miller-Mauro 6. Tempest in the Tea Leaves - Kari Lee Townsend (recommend) 7. The Help - Kathryn Stockett (HIGHLY recommend) 8. The Map of Time - Felix J. Palma (recommend) 9. From This Moment On - Shania Twain 10. CatKid: I'm No Fraidy Cat - Brian James (recommend) 11. The Rainbow Connection - Ian Harac 12. Amish Values for Your Family - Suzanne Woods Fisher 13. The Elfin Child - Philip G. Bell 14. Big Questions 15

"… in Your book all my days were recorded, even those which were purposed before they had come into being." —Psalm 139:16 Young Cameron Vaux’s mind is slipping. Memories of his wife, killed two years earlier in a car accident, are vanishing just as his dad predicted they would. Memories he knows he has to remember. His father tells Cameron that to save his mind he must find "the book with all days in it" —the past and future record of every soul on earth. When an obscure clue leads Cameron to a small central Oregon town, he meets enigmatic Taylor Stone, a possible guide to finding the book who seems to carry secrets far deeper than anyone imagines. Local hotshot TV personality Ann Bannister thinks the legend of the book is a farce, but she has her reasons to join Cameron’s search anyway. Finally, there is fanatical New Age guru Jason Judah, who will stop at nothing to find the book of days before Cameron does. Paperback: 400 pages Publisher: B&H Books IS

I don’t know if other writers feel this way. It’s not talked about. I looked for it on the web. I used Google and Bing . Still nothing. Is its absence the paradoxical proof that it’s there? Like I said: we don’t talk about it. At least I don’t. Usually don’t. And I couldn’t find it on the web. But I feel it. What is the creature that stalks us in the night? Haunting us, keeping us awake on the eve of publication, the evil bogey waiting to come down the chimney. Waiting for our guard to drop and then creep in to fill his bag with our most prized, secret possession, and sweep it away, laughing and whipping his growling, red-eyed devil deer through the hellish cold and dark. What is it? Is it just me? Let me tell you a secret: I used to make movies. Not good ones. Fine, a couple of okay ones, short cartoons that few saw and earned me a total of five hundred-fifty dollars between a festival and a single contest. It was a good run. Filled me with confidence. Lif

In the face of revenge, innocence is meaningless. Death is omnipresent to small-town loner Lloyd Bizbang. Today proves no exception. After being attacked yet again by a pair of sociopaths who have targeted him since childhood, Lloyd stumbles upon a sight he wishes he could unsee in the town junkyard. Now as he just tries to live through another day, the bodies are stacking up in the town of Horton, and Lloyd finds himself connected to each of them via the drug-and-drink-addled, unhinging police chief, yet another person who has an old score to settle with Lloyd. A game of revenge and survival is underway, but will there be a winner at the day’s end? Kindle Edition: 161 KB ASIN: B005D1T6QA Purchase at Amazon by clicking the link on the photo. ©2011 Author Bio: CS DeWildt lives and writes in Tucson, Arizona. He is currently working on a novel and a collection of shorts. His work has been showcased on sites like Bartleby Snopes, Word Riot, The Bicycle Review, Writer’s Bloc and

SHOULD BE READING * Grab your current read. * Let the book fall open to a random page. * Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12. * You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from…that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given. * Please avoid spoilers! After saying goodbye to Ann, Cameron sat in his car determined to find something to take his mind off Jessie, his memory loss, the book, Ann--everything. Even if it wasn't good for him.

Three years ago, Phineas Nobul was at the top of her game as a defense attorney in Los Angelos. When the Lair, New York native returned home for the holidays, she was surprised to find herself willing to give it all up for love. Now brokenhearted, nearly penniless, and once again unemployed, Phineas finds herself partnering up with her sister to take a second shot at success. Phoebe, the eldest and more responsible Nobul daughter, envies her little sister's free spirit and loathes her unreliability. this is never more the case than when Phoebe finds herself dumped on her wedding day and her little sister nowhere to be found. When Phineas resurfaces and much wine has been consumed, she presents the heinous idea of Phoebe quitting her career in publishing to team up with her as private investigators. Phoebe rejects the idea at first but then sees this as a chance to start over. Business is barely up and running when a corpse is left in the newly established Artemis Agency. A foreb

The ultimate guide to life's big questions! This book asks the big questions that really make you think about yourself and your place in the world. What is the secret of happiness? Can computers think? What is reality anyway? Stretching your brain and firing your imagination, the bright, dynamic spreads will set your mind racing off along different tangents and into new realms of discovery. From personal questions about thoughts and dreams to the wider questions of life, the universe, and everything, this is a journey like no other. Hardcover: 128 pages Publisher: DK CHILDREN ISBN: 9780756675790 Purchase at Amazon by clicking the link on the photo. Purchase at DK Canada ©2011 My Opinion: One word: Debatable. This book ponders all the really big questions like, where do we come from and how do colors make you feel? I did have an issue while reading the book, though more of a debate amongst myself as to what should be put forth. Content-wise, I mean. Here's why:

This is a children's fantasy story that follows a boy recovering from illness in the city and sent to the country to stay with his Aunt during the school holidays. Whilst playing in a nearby wood, he meets an Elfin boy of the same age. Although initially wary, he eventually allows himself to be drawn into a parallel world , full of strange creatures. He also discovers that prophecies foretold that he would save this world from a dire fate. The book was originally written for children from around the age of 9 years and up, but has proved popular with teens and adults. Paperback: 164 pages Publisher: CreateSpace ISBN: 9781460951675 Click the link on the photo to purchase. ©2011 Author Bio: Philip G. Bell was born in West Ealing, a suburb of London, England. In 1984, Philip took up writing poetry and short stories, mainly at the time to read to his children. In the early 1990's his poetry had become widely read and Philip was being invited to give readings in numerous

Welcome to Week 41 with me! Rules: *Grab a book, any book. *Turn to page 56. *Find any sentence that grabs you. *Post it. *Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url. It's that simple. The hanging colored lanterns and yellow lights flamed out down the midway in a domino effect that wrapped around the curve of the chain-link border of the fairgrounds. ~From Location 56% on Kindle.

The "I dig NY" Graphic T which will be ready to ship on September 1st to consumers, is our way of giving back to those who helped dig us out of the rubble back on 09/11/01. 60% of proceeds from the sales made prior to 09/11/11, will be given to the New York Police and Fire Department Unions, given they risked their lives to save others during the terror attacks on the World Trade Center. We want to inspire people around the nation to wear the "I dig NY" T-Shirt on September 11th as a tribute to showing the world just how Americans of all different cultures can unite. We also want to display that we will "Never Forget" and will always dig New York. dug (down under gear) found at duglife.com is a men's intimate apparel company that brings Men, "His Secret" and inspires men to get dressed before getting dressed. Our brand message is "Keep Diggin' Deeper" and so we encourage men to dig deep for all they are most passionate ab

For readers who long for strong families that know how to truly enjoy life together, there is much to learn from the Amish. Values like community, forgiveness, simple living, obedience, and more can be your family legacy--without selling your car, changing your wardrobe, or moving out to farm country. In Amish Values for Your Family, bestselling author Suzanne Woods Fisher shows how you can adopt the wisdom of the Amish when it comes to family matters. In this inspiring and practical book readers will find charming true stories interlaced with solid, biblical advice about parenting, marriage, and all aspects of family life. As readers get an intimate glimpse into the everyday lives of real Amish families, they will learn to prioritize what's truly important, simplify decision-making, slow down as a family, safeguard time together, and let go when the time comes. Paperback: 192 pages Publisher: Revell ISBN: 9780800719968 Purchase at Amazon ©2011 Author Bio: Her interes

Mat Kearney's third album, Young Love, hit stores last week debuting on the #1 spot on iTunes Album and Rock charts and is currently sitting at #5! Propelled by the sunny hand-clap and catchy hook of hit single "Hey Mama", Young Love is quickly making listeners fall for Mat all over again. Mat Kearney's Website Mat's iTunes Page Mat's Facebook Track Listing: 1. Hey Mama 2. Ships in the Night 3. Count on Me 4. Sooner or Later 5. Chasing the Light 6. Learning to Love Again 7. Down 8. She Got the Honey 9. Young Dumb and in Love 10. Rochester ©2011 My Opinion: I really, really like this album! I like it so much that I posted the video to my Facebook yesterday when I listened to the cd. I had to see if anything was on YouTube... so glad it was. I listened to the cd twice actually. I really love the track he came out with, Hey Mama. I also loved She Got the Honey and Young Dumb and in Love. Those were the best songs for my tastes.

Dr. Beckmann Stain Devils for Mud, Grass and Make-Up is specifically formulated to remove tough stains. The Stain Devil can remove a number of different stains including mud, water colors, lipstick, and body lotion. The stain remover works in only three minutes and can be used on most colorfast fabrics. ©2011 My Opinion: I think this product is fab! I know it says make up and dirt and grass, but I thought what the heck! I got a blanket I use for the dogs. Bella got her unmentionables recently and drops of blood appeared on this old blanket. I thought the worst that would happen is I'd have to toss an old blanket. So here is the before: See the spot. Blood. Ew. So then I did what the instructions said on the back, and this is what came out: Now it wasn't any of the fabrics listed that you shouldn't use it on, so I went for it. I'm glad I did, since it worked! Now the girls have a clean blanket! Bella couldn't be happier! Yes my girls wear diapers in the

SHOULD BE READING * Grab your current read. * Let the book fall open to a random page. * Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12. * You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from…that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given. * Please avoid spoilers! When he could finally unhinge his left hand from the banister and forcefully unparalyze the hand that had never waved to a beautiful bikini girl, Fred walked back into his office. Longing to feel better about himself, he began organizing his desk.

Please give a warm welcome to Natasha Larry, author of Darwin's Children. 1. Please tell readers about your current book. Here is my publisher's blurb for Darwin's Children; Life can get pretty complicated for any seventeen-year-old girl, but for a home-schooled telepathic black girl trying to survive in a prestigious private school in small-town Jonesborough, Tennessee, it can be maddening – especially when her telepathic father keeps eavesdropping on her thoughts! Jaycie Lerner’s family isn’t the usual mom-dad-kid setup. Jaycie’s mom’s MIA, but Allison, her personal live-in ‘trainer,’ is more than a mom, with her own special abilities, like being able to lift cars and run incredibly fast. And Jaycie’s godfather John is more than persuasive – he can literally convince anyone to do anything. As far as the rest of the world’s concerned, Jaycie’s on the outside looking in. The townsfolk love Jaycie’s pediatrician father, but she doesn’t fit in with ‘normal’ kids, and sh

One FBI Agent One geekette. One dead Muchkin. Parallel worlds galore. An inter-dimensional conspiracy when Matt Anders stumbles across the body of a dead munchkin in a suspect's apartment, a conspiracy begins to unravel that leads him on a reality-jumping adventure to the magical Land of Oz... and beyond! Paperback: 104 pages Publisher: Blackwyrm ISBN: 9780982006719 Purchase at Amazon ©2009 My Opinion: The premise of this book sounds so good, how could I pass up the opportunity to review it?! Then I finally read it, and struggled to get through it. If it wasn't for my sense of obligation to read and review it, I wouldn't have bothered finishing it. It was that bad for me. Really this story could have come together better. I'm not sure what it is missing or lacks but I just didn't feel it came together in an interesting way. I really couldn't get into it, no matter how hard I tried. So no favorites here, and no recommendation. I wouldn't waste m

Please give a warm welcome to Lisa Becker, author of Click: An Online Love Story. Here is her bio: Lisa Becker had endured her share of hilarious and heinous cyber dates, many of which inspired Click: An Online Love Story. She is now happily married to a wonderful man she met online and lives in Manhattan Beach with him and their two daughters. So, if it happened for her, there’s hope for you! 1. Please tell readers about your current book. Click: An Online Love Story follows Renee Greene, who is fast approaching her 30th birthday and finding herself not married, not dating, and without even a prospect or a house full of cats. She reluctantly joins her best guy pal on a journey to find love online in Los Angeles. The story unfolds through a series of emails between Renee and her best friends (anal-compulsive Mark, the overly-judgmental Ashley and the over-sexed Shelley) as well as the gentlemen suitors she meets online. From the guy who starts every story with "My buddies a

Swagbucks knows how valuable your reward points are to you, and they've introduced a line of Limited Entry Gift Card Swagstakes that give you a low price for entries, improved odds of winning, and a way for you to get free stuff without paying a high price. If you've never entered a Swagstakes before, they're drawings where you buy an entry/multiple entries for a relatively small amount of Swag Bucks with the chance to win a larger prize. They have a $25 Restaurant.com Giftcard - 25 Entries per giveaway, and each entry is only 40 Swagbucks. To celebrate these new cards, Swagbucks is going to be running a special promotion all next week - every day, they're rolling out an AWESOME Limited Entry Gift Card AND giving you the opportunity to help you build a GIGANTIC Swag Code to be released on the 29th. For more details tune in to the Swagbucks blog on Monday at 10am PDT, when they'll reveal the first card!

CatKid is one of a kind! She knows her house is haunted, so why can't anyone else hear the scritching and scratching in the attic? Is it just her super-sensitive feline ears that pick up the spooky noises? To prove to everyone that she's not just a fraidy cat, CatKid hatches a plan. But will her scheme catch the ghosts, or land her in the doghouse? Paperback: 96 pages Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks ISBN: 9780439888547 Purchase at Amazon ©2007 Author Bio: This is BRIAN JAMES's first early chapter-book series. He lives in Woodstock, New York, with his wife and their cat, Doggie. My Opinion: This was an adorable and quick read. The illustrations are what I find adorable and they are throughout the whole book. I really enjoyed the lessons being taught, learning to listen to your instincts, loving yourself and acceptance. All valuable things for the readers of this age. A really fun whondunit with a laughable twist! Kids in Grades 2-3 will enjoy this the mo

Welcome to Week 40 with me! Rules: *Grab a book, any book. *Turn to page 56. *Find any sentence that grabs you. *Post it. *Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url. It's that simple. CatKid: I'm no Fraidy Cat - Brian James PAGE 56: She always makes that face when I do something only a half cat can do.

The world may know Shania Twain as many things: a music legend, a mother, and recently, a fixture in the news for her painful, public divorce and subsequent marriage to a cherished friend. But in this extraordinary autobiography, Shania reveals that she is so much more. She is Eilleen Twain, one of five children born into poverty in rural Canada, where her family often didn’t have enough food to send her to school with lunch. She’s the teenage girl who helped her mother and young siblings escape to a battered woman’s shelter to put an end to the domestic violence in her family home. And she’s the courageous twenty-two-year-old who sacrificed to keep her younger siblings together after her parents were tragically killed in a car accident. Shania Twain’s life has evolved from a series of pivotal moments, and in unflinching, heartbreaking prose, Shania spares no details as she takes us through the events that have made her who she is. She recounts her difficult childhood, her parents’ su

A look at what happens when a southern town's unspoken code of rules and behavior is shattered by three courageous women who strike up an unlikely friendship. PG-13 137 minutes Emma Stone, Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer ©2011 Based on the book, The Help - Kathryn Stockett , which I reviewed and posted HERE . My Opinion: This was exactly what I hoped it would be. It was almost identical in comparison, with only a few small differences. They didn't matter, since it is such a powerful story, told either way in book or film. That only means that there is no reason whatsoever why as to you missing it. That can only mean I think it's a must-see! I really loved the book, and loved the film too. It was nice seeing it come to life. 9/10 Recommend? Definitely, but not for children. They are impressionable. ~I obtained my own movie experience. I was not compensated in any way.~

SHOULD BE READING * Grab your current read. * Let the book fall open to a random page. * Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12. * You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from…that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given. * Please avoid spoilers! From the time I reluctantly moved back home from Toronto in 1981 at sixteen, I had told anyone who would listen I intended to move back there once I was out of high school. And as soon Flirt's East Coast leg was over at the end of the summer 1983, I did exactly that. ~ From This Moment On - Shania Twain

What inspires personal style?  Fashion icon Jennifer Lopez’s signature style clearly comes across in her career , music and lifestyle and has influence d trends around the world, but what inspires her?  From growing up in the Bronx , living and working in Hollywood to traveling the world, Jennifer’s personal has evolved with each life experience.  Jennifer has brought her unique fashion experiences to the Jennifer Lopez Collection, exclusive ly at Kohl’s .  In these new Kohl’s fashion videos, Jennifer shares her inspirations behind the Jennifer Lopez Collection .  Also, Jennifer and fashion industry tastemakers like Nina Garcia (Fashion Director, Marie Claire ) and Rob Zangardi (Fashion Stylist/ Costume Designer) discuss how the Jennifer Lopez Collection truly is a representation of Jennifer and how she dresses. The Jennifer Lopez Collection includes contemporary sportswear, dresses, handbags, jewelry, shoes, and sleepwear. The Jennifer Lopez Home Collection consist s

WISHLIST: 1. The Season of Risks - Susan Hubbard (Book 3 in series) ( GIFT From Velvet , Review posted HERE ) 2. Dahanu Road - Anosh Irani 3. Immortal - Gillian Shields (Book 1 in series) 4. Incarceron - Catherine Fisher 5 . WEREling - S. Feasey (Book 1 in series) ( WON at Dark Faerie Tales ) 6. Blankets - Craig Thompson 7. A Kiss in Time - Alex Flinn 8. Water Bound - Christine Feehan 9. Almost To Die For - Tate Hallaway 10. Children of the Dawnland - Kathleen O'Neal Gear & W. Michael Gear 11. Forgive My Fins - Tera Lynn Childs 12. The Wolf of Tebron - C.S. Lakin (Book 1 in series) ( WON at Word Vessel ) 13. Pearl in the Sand - Tessa Afshar 14. I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced - Nujood Ali & Delphine Minoui 15. The Summer of Skinny Dipping - Amanda Howells 16. Clockwork Angel - Cassandra Clare 17. Leviathan - Scott Westerfeld 18. Tyger Tyger - Kersten Hamilton (Book 1 in series) 19. Virals - Kathy Reichs 20. Then Came The Evening - Brian Hart 2

Welcome to Week 39 with me! Rules: *Grab a book, any book. *Turn to page 56. *Find any sentence that grabs you. *Post it. *Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url. It's that simple. From This Moment On - Shania Twain PAGE 56: They're full but nutritionally starving at the same time.

Set in Victorian London with characters real and imagined, The Map of Time boasts a triple-play of intertwined plots in which a skeptical H.G. Wells is called upon to investigate purported incidents of time travel and thereby save the lives of an aristocrat in love with a murdered prostitute from the past; of a woman bent on fleeing the strictures of Victorian society; and of his very own wife, who may have become a pawn in a 4th-dimensional plot to murder the authors of Dracula, The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds, in order to alter their identities and steal their fictional creations. But, what happens if we change history? Felix J. Palma raises such questions in The Map of Time. Mingling fictional characters with real ones, Palma weaves a historical fantasy as imaginative as it is exciting, a story full of love and adventure that also pays homage to the roots of science fiction while transporting its readers to a fascinating Victorian London for their own taste of time tra

Be prepared to meet three unforgettable women: Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone. Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken. Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to