Freda's Voice

Happy 2012! Welcome to the New Year's edition of the monthly news! Last year I read 174 books, so this year I have challenged myself to 175. Also I will be keeping my page count. It's interesting to think how many pages we read each year, so I'm going to keep track. Don't know that I will do it every year, but this one, yes! BOOKS: 1. Ashley's New Attitude - Samantha Whitney (recommend) 2. Summer's Crossing - Julie Kagawa (recommend) 3. The Meerkat Wars - H.S Toshack (recommend) 4. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs (recommend) 5. Jabberwocky - Daniel Coleman (recommend) 6. The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove - Lauren Kate (recommend) 7. Busted - Glenn Gamble 8. Liesl & Po - Lauren Oliver (HIGHLY recommend) 9. The Disappearing Spoon - Sam Kean 10. Daughter of Smoke & Bone - Laini Taylor (recommend) 11. Spin - Catherine McKenzie (recommend) PAGE COUNT: 3253 PAGES Yearly Total: 11 Books FREDA'

(If graphic doesn't load, refresh page) Kate's To-Do List: 1. Go to rehab 2. Befriend/spy on "It Girl" 3. Write killer expose 4. Land dream job Piece of cake! When Kate Sandford lands an interview at her favorite music magazine, The Line, it's the chance of a lifetime. So Kate goes out to celebrate—and shows up still drunk to the interview the next morning. It's no surprise that she doesn't get the job, but her performance has convinced the editors that she'd be perfect for an undercover assignment for their gossip rag. All Kate has to do is follow "It Girl" Amber Sheppard into rehab. If she can get the inside scoop—and complete the thirty-day program—they'll reconsider her for the position at The Line. Kate takes the assignment, but when real friendships start to develop, she has to decide if what she has to gain is worth the price she'll have to pay. Paperback: 448 pages Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Original edit

SHOULD BE READING Amy and I are finishing up our lunch in the cafeteria when the sound of something scraping across the floor grabs my attention. I turn to look.

(If graphic doesn't load, refresh page) Gabby is a disgruntled tween angel who has just been assigned to protect her school nemesis and ex-beffie. Problem is her ex-beffie is dating Gabby’s longtime crush. Instead of protecting Angela, Gabby pranks her (since when is sticking toilet paper to her shoe or spinach in her teeth a sin?) Soon, Gabby gets out of control and is put on probation by her SKYAgent, who has anger management issues of his own. Determined to right her wrongs, Gabby steals an ancient artifact that allows her to return to Earth for just one day. Without knowing, she kicks off a series of events and learns what can happen when you hate someone to death. Book Trailer is HERE Paperback Available in February "S.R. Johannes delivers a cute paranormal thrill ride for middle graders! Even in death there is a BRIGHT SIDE!" - Addison Moore, author of the bestselling Celestra series and soon to be TV show Clever and charming, ON THE BRIGHT SIDE is the stor

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky. In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low. And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war. Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out. When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself? Hardcover: 43

Scribd.Ride With Me Excerpt - by author Ruthie Knox Comes Out FEBRUARY 13 A list of retailers HERE

Welcome to Week 60 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. (If graphic doesn't load, refresh page.) And now Jenna was dead. And this Sara soon would be. (Taken from Page 156, since 56 is blank.)

The Periodic Table is one of man's crowning scientific achievements. But it's also a treasure trove of stories of passion, adventure, betrayal, and obsession. The infectious tales and astounding details in THE DISAPPEARING SPOON follow carbon, neon, silicon, and gold as they play out their parts in human history, finance, mythology, war, the arts, poison, and the lives of the (frequently) mad scientists who discovered them. We learn that Marie Curie used to provoke jealousy in colleagues' wives when she'd invite them into closets to see her glow-in-the-dark experiments. And that Lewis and Clark swallowed mercury capsules across the country and their campsites are still detectable by the poison in the ground. Why did Gandhi hate iodine? Why did the Japanese kill Godzilla with missiles made of cadmium? And why did tellurium lead to the most bizarre gold rush in history? From the Big Bang to the end of time, it's all in THE DISAPPEARING SPOON . Hardcover: 400 pag

Hello readers! I hope you are all doing great. Today we have author, Bill Campbell, joining us to talk about his new book, Koontown Killing Kaper , and answer a few questions for us. So please check it out, and leave comments or questions for Bill. (If graphic doesn't load, refresh page) It’s a hip-hop satire. All the rappers in Koontown are being murdered, and the police think that it might be vampire crack babies are doing the killing. Stymied, they reach out to ex-supermodel/ex-homicide detective/private detective, Genevieve “Jon Vee” Noire, to solve the case. Basically, I wanted to take different negative portrayals and stereotypes promulgated by popular culture and study them, eviscerate them, to make as much fun of them as is humanly possible. It’s basically as though one combined The Boondocks with The Family Guy , if Aaron McGruder and Seth McFarlane didn’t have to deal with TV censors. Interestingly enough, readers have found the book either hysterical, offensive, o

(If graphic doesn't load, refresh page.) Liesl lives in a tiny attic bedroom, locked away by her cruel stepmother. Her only friends are the shadows and the mice—until one night a ghost appears from the darkness. It is Po, who comes from the Other Side. Both Liesl and Po are lonely, but together they are less alone. That same night, an alchemist's apprentice, Will, bungles an important delivery. He accidentally switches a box containing the most powerful magic in the world with one containing something decidedly less remarkable Will's mistake has tremendous consequences for Liesl and Po, and it draws the three of them together on an extraordinary journey. Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: HarperCollins (October 4, 2011) ISBN: 9780062014511 Author Bio: Lauren Oliver was previously an editorial assistant at a publishing company in New York. A graduate of the University of Chicago and the MFA Program at New York University, she is now a full-time writer. She divides

BUSTED is a prequel to the Jim Money Stories that dates back to Jim Money's college days when he was an up-and-coming distance runner on scholarship at Southern Illinois University. Balancing school and 10-mile runs with running his illegal gambling operation, Jim Money and his friends Frank and Steve must grow up fast, or else his next race will be out of Carbondale, Illinois and possibly to a prison sentence, or the grave. Will Jim and his friends find a way to keep his gambling operation alive while keeping themselves off the police and the NCAA officials' radar? Let's see what rouge Officer Seal and his cohorts have to say about that. Kindle Edition: 156 KB Publisher: 60 Minutes with Glenn Publications (November 17, 2011) ASIN: B0069HL8KY My Review of Bon Appetit is HERE My Opinion: I loved Bon Appetit , so I had to read this one. You do learn a lot about Jim, the main character of both, and why he is as ferocious as he can be. A cruel life can sometimes

Please give a warm welcome to Michael Abayomi, author of The Mediator and others. He's joining us for a few questions and let us know about his latest book. The Mediator is the story of a young lawyer’s fight against injustice in a highly-corrupt, dystopian society. Just think John Grisham meets Philip K. Dick, and you’ll have an idea of what to expect. It is the first book in my current series, Neuro, which centers on a technology that allows the human mind to be interfaced with a computer.   Who or what inspires your writing? Several things actually. I basically draw inspiration from everything around me. I remember seeing a TV commercial once, and thinking, wow, this could work as a concept for a science-fiction thriller. And thus, The Host was born. One very big influence on my writing was reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone; it basically taught me everything I love about books and writing today. Of recent, I find I am inspired by stuff I come across in the B

SHOULD BE READING (If graphic doesn't load, refresh page.) It was all fine and well to pretend to be invisible for one minute, or two. But Liesl was not invisible, unlike her ghostly friends, and as soon as she sat down in a comfortable seat in one of the very first cars, resting the heavy wooden box beside her, people began to give her strange looks.

Caitlin Flanagan's essays about marriage, sex, and families have sparked national debates. Now she turns her attention to girls: the biological and cultural milestones for girls today, and how they shape a girl's sense of herself. The transition from girl to woman is an experience that has changed radically over the generations: everything from how a girl learns about her period to how she expects to be treated by boys and men. Girls today observe these passages very differently, and yet the landmarks themselves have remained remarkably constant-proof, Flanagan believes, of their significance. In a world where protections of girls' privacy and personal freedom seem to disappear every day, the ultimate challenge modern parents face is finding a way to defend both. Thanks to Anna, and Hachette Book Group , I have 3 copies up for grabs! Fill in the Rafflecopter form to enter.

(If graphic doesn't load, refresh page.) Natalie Hargrove dreams of becoming Palmetto Princess. The catch? Her boyfriend, Mike King, is in serious risk of losing the honor of Palmetto Prince to Natalie's nemesis, Justin Balmer. And let's just say Natalie and Justin share a history so shady it could cause flowers to wither. So Natalie convinces Mike to help her play a naughty little prank on Justin... one that goes terribly, terribly wrong. Blackmail and buried desire, dark secrets and even darker deeds cause Natalie to unravel. She never should have messed with fate. Because. it turns out, fate is the one thing more twisted than Natalie Hargrove. Paperback: 235 pages Publisher: Razorbill; 1 edition (June 14, 2011) ISBN: 9781595145178 Author Bio: Lauren Kate ( www.laurenkatebooks.net ) is the author of The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove and the internationally bestselling Fallen novels, which include the #1 New York Times bestsellers Fallen and Torment . Her bo

Browse Inside Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver, Illustrated by Kei Acedera Right now you can read Liesl & Po for FREE!!! Yup, 100% free!

Welcome to Week 59 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. (If graphic doesn't load, refresh page.) "Bye-bye butt feathers," she called, sounding oblivious. "Anything else out there worth stuffing myself into for Baxter's benefit?"

(If graphic doesn't load, refresh page.) “One, two! One, two! and through and through the vorpal blade went snicker-snack!” Blood pounded in Tjaden’s ears as he breathed in the acrid odor, and his sword didn’t falter. Not after the convoluted road that had led him to set out alone to find and slay the manxome Jabberwocky. But the secrets he’d learned about the Jabberwocky’s sorrowful past made it a sour victory. How different would the situation be if the girl he loved wasn’t at risk? Why didn’t anyone tell him the dark secrets surrounding the Tumtum tree? Jabberwocky , is the untold story inspired by Lewis Carroll’s epic poem. Meet the characters and creatures that inhabit the world long before Alice ever fell down the rabbit’s hole. While staying true to every detail of Lewis Carroll’s masterpiece, Jabberwocky provides twists that will keep you turning pages. You might know how it ends, but you won’t believe how it happens. Kindle Edition: 249 KB Print Length: 144 pages

(If graphic doesn't load, refresh page.) A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of very curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive. A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the

Good evening readers! I have a treat for you all, author Victoria Foyt stopped in to answers a few questions and tell us about her book, Revealing Eden . Check it out! Please tell readers about your current book... (If you do not see an image, you may need to refresh the page.) Revealing Eden (Save The Pearls art One) is a unique pastiche of genres, fantasy, adventure, and romance, which really interweaves my own fears and dreams. I started with my deep concern about the loss of our natural environment and how that might change existing social paradigms. In Eden’s future world, the earth is so overheated that her white race, the Pearls, have nearly died off. Those with darker skin, Coals, are better able to resist The Heat, and therefore, dominate society. Today, Eden might be considered gorgeous, but in the future, she’s considered ugly and is doomed unless she can find a mate before she turns 18, which is nearly middle aged. Here, I tapped into my feelings about race and be

SHOULD BE READING There were a few more acts after Fiona and Hugh left the stage but by then the kids were getting antsy, and soon we dispersed to spend the rest of the day in summery bliss: lazing in the sun sipping limeade, playing croquet; tending to gardens that, thanks to Fiona, hardly needed tending; discussing our options for lunch. I wanted to ask Miss Peregrine more about my grandfather--a subject I avoided with Emma, who turned morose at any mention of his name--but the headmistress had gone to conduct a lesson in the study for the younger kids.

JoJo , Cambio and AT&T Join Together to Tell Fans ‘It Can Wait’ to Stop Texting While Driving According to Car and Driver , texting while driving is more dangerous than driving under the influence* and those who send text messages while driving are 23 times more likely to be in a crash**. Music sensation JoJo and Cambio , the online destination for teens and young adults, have teamed up with AT&T’s “It Can Wait” campaign to help combat this epidemic. Throughout the month of January, Cambio will release three videos about the risks of texting and driving narrated by the twenty-one- year-old-platinum-selling songstress, JoJo, through Cambio Impact — Cambio’s new social causes platform. In these compelling vignettes, JoJo reminds her peers that text messages can and should wait until after driving. The first video is available to watch HERE . JoJo and Cambio encourage their collective fan base to take AT&T’s “It Can Wait” pledge to not text and drive on Facebook.

Hayat Shah is a young American in love for the first time. His normal life of school, baseball, and video games had previously been distinguished only by his Pakistani heritage and by the frequent chill between his parents, who fight over things he is too young to understand. Then Mina arrives, and everything changes. Mina is Hayat's mother's oldest friend from Pakistan. She is independent, beautiful and intelligent, and arrives on the Shah's doorstep when her disastrous marriage in Pakistan disintegrates. Even Hayat's skeptical father can't deny the liveliness and happiness that accompanies Mina into their home. Her deep spirituality brings the family's Muslim faith to life in a way that resonates with Hayat as nothing has before. Studying the Quran by Mina's side and basking in the glow of her attention, he feels an entirely new purpose mingled with a growing infatuation for his teacher. When Mina meets and begins dating a man, Hayat is confuse

Welcome to Week 58 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. But then four months later he had woken up in a pool of his own shit and blood and saw death beside him sitting in a wicker chair. So he had lain back into his pillow and sighing said, "Okay, you win."

Happy New Year! Pauly Shore is kicking off 2012 with a bang! Pauly has partnered with Youtoo TV , the new Social TV network that let’s ANYONE be on national TV with just a few clicks. Pauly is inviting everyone to shoot and upload a hilarious 30-second video to Youtoo.com; and then watch their video, called a “Peoplemercial,” air on the national cable network just like a normal TV commercial – new and different right? Pauly is covering the cost of all Peoplemercials uploaded through January 30th, and will select the winner of the funniest Peoplemercial to receive a free trip to LA to hang with him for the day and see what the VIP “Paulywood” life is all about. Donations will also be made to the ASPCA for every video uploaded, since it’s a charity close to Pauly’s heart. Please check out this video, and see the release below for more info: http://www.youtoo.com/pauly

It's time for "The Worldwide Dessert Contest!" (Perfect for foodies!) "Publishers Weekly" raves: A little bit of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with a dash of Homer Price's donut maker, this novel pays homage to the longstanding rapport between children and sweets. John Apple longs to win the Worldwide Dessert Contest, but all his delicious desserts have a penchant for changing into something else at the last minute. The way he overcomes this difficulty and takes first place involves a search for the greatest chef in the world, the defeat of the thieving title-holder of the contest and a run-in with a judge who has, thanks to John, a caramel apple bonded to his cheek from their last encounter. Elish writes with a sure hand of this sugary world, his tongue squarely in the area of his sweet tooth. For his ability to praise desserts in an endlessly original fashion, he deserves a blue ribbon. Ages 9-11. First published in 1998, "The Worldwide Desser

SHOULD BE READING Aurelia. I don't know what it looks like now.

It's all very well helping a young meerkat who's been poisoned by a scorpion. But when you've made friends with the whole Duwara tribe of meerkats, and you discover that they're at war with the Utongo, you may find yourself involved in that too, even if you're only a little black-and-white cat. And when you realise that the two tribes are fighting because each one believes it lives under The One True Sun, then you may have to undertake a very dangerous journey to help them see things differently. You may have to go through The Gorge. Paperback: 241 pages Publisher: PakaMdogo Press (October 31, 2010) ISBN: 9780956323620 AUTHOR BIO: H. S. Toshack has lived and worked as an English teacher and educational consultant in the UK, the Caribbean, Africa, Thailand and the Middle East. He now lives and writes in Portugal...and travels, still. His Paka Mdogo stories are set in Africa, but they are colored by his experience of people, and lives lived, in all of those o

Hello Readers! Today we have Dave Longeuay joining us to discuss his book, Rebirth and answer a few questions for us. Why don't you click his name and check out the website as well as the interview here. Let me know what you found there of interest. Fleeing his father's anti-Semitic organization, Charles Devonshire journeys into the most volatile land-grab in history -- Palestine. Charles pursues a beautiful but mysterious librarian, Gladia, who leads him into the elaborate Jewish underground. While joining their plight to reestablish a homeland, he falls in love with her and faces painful challenges within their culture gap. In the midst of battling the hostile inhabitants who also laid claim to Palestine, he searches for clues of his own troubled past. Based on actual events “Rebirth” about the rebirth of Israel, draws you into 1948, into a world of intrigue, espionage and anti-Semitism. Witness how ancient prophecies were fulfilled against impossible odds as Jews buil