Fablehaven Giveaway

Hello one and all -



Today is a VERY important day. Today is the release of Keys to the Demon Prison (Book 5 of the Fablehaven Series) by Brandon Mull. I'm eager and excited to be attending his release party in Salt Lake tonight and am desperately looking forward to seeing how Brandon ends the Fablehaven series. In honor and celebration of this momentous occasion we are hosting a giveaway.



Starting today and running until midnight on Saturday, April 3rd you may enter to win an autographed copy of the first book in the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull. During that time Stephanie and I will post reviews of Brandon Mull's works which we highly encourage you to read for yourselves. The winner will be announced on Sunday, April 4th.

Ways to Enter:



1. Leave a comment on this or any other post until the 3rd telling us the following: If you can spend an hour with any author, living or dead, then who would you choose? (1 entry)

2. Follow our blog (3 entries)

3. Post a link to our blog on your blog. Please leave a link to your blog (5 entries)

4. Blog about our blog or giveaway on your blog. Again please leave a link (10 entries)

5. Write a review for us. (5 entries per review) There is no limit to the number of reviews you write for us. Please use our format. (Below) Email us your reviews at fabulousreads@yahoo.com Also if you would like us to link to your blog, please give us your blog address.


Title:
Author:
Reviewer:
Genre:
Rating:
Alerts/Warnings:
Premise:
Opinions:



If you are under the age or 18 you must have a parent or legal guardian give consent if you win.

We have also in the past have had people have problems with our comment section. If you have a problem, you can email us your entry at fabulousreads@yahoo.com



Reviews for Brandon's books will be up in the next day or two. Keep on checking our website to learn more about these Fabulous Reads. Good Luck all!!

Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart by Beth Pattillo

Title: Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart
Author: Beth Pattillo
Reviewer: Stephanie
Genre: Chick Lit
Rating: Adore
Alerts/Warnings: None
Premise: After agreeing to present a paper to a summer symposium at Oxford on her ailing sister's behalf, Claire Prescott is thrown into an adventure with a bunch of Jane Austen-loving women searching for their Mr. Darcy, but when she meets a mysterious women who claims to have an early version of Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Claire learns that love isn't logical and that a true hero can appear in the most unexpected of places.
Opinions: I chose this book based solely of the title. It greatly appealled to me, so I requested my library purchase it. Today I read it and had a hard time putting it down. It was different from any other Pride and Prejudice story I've ever read.
Claire is a really interesting character. She is in the middle of a summer symposium on Jane Austen, and she is not a huge Austen fan. However, she meets a unique woman with a very valuable secret in her possession. Claire through this woman has the pleasure of reading the first draft of Pride and Prejudice, entitled First Impressions. Through her week class and reading First Impressions she learns who she is and so do you as a reader. I had a lot of assumptions at the beginning of the novel, and yet I was pleasantly suprised at the turns the novel took. This was a delightful novel and I look forward to reading other books by this author.

On Becoming Baby Wise by Gary Ezzo

Title: On Becoming Baby Wise
Author: Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam
Reviewer: Karen
Genre: Self Help/Non-Fiction
Rating:Love
Alerts/Warnings: None
Premise: This book focuses on learning how to help your baby sleep through the night.
Opinions: Being a new mom for the second time over I was eager to learn how to avoid the mistakes that I made when it came to getting my daughter to sleep well. My daughter is now approaching two years old and has only started sleeping through the night within the last two months (thanks to a fabulous mother-in-law who trained her while I was on bed rest with my son). A trusted source recommended to me that I try the Baby Wise method as several of her family members (including herself) have followed it and are now rejoicing with children who learn to comfort themselves to sleep.


The main focus of the Baby Wise method is that if you allow your child a semi-structured routine during the day that 96% of the children following this method will be able to sleep through the night by 8-12 weeks old. Now the idea is not to keep the child on a strict schedule, but to make sure that during the day they have a clear start time for morning feeding and then make sure that throughout the day the child has clearly defined periods of sleep time, followed by eating time, followed by awake time. Then the cycle repeats. The parent is responsible for following this general routine, but ensuring that you still focus on the baby's hunger cues. Granted my newborn son is only 5 weeks old and I'm still working on the process, but I'm finding this book really helpful and informative and highly recommend it to anyone with a newborn on the way.

Not a Review...but still Fabulous

Okay, this isn't a book review, but it is something dear to my heart. Also it is quite fabulous and so I'm sharing it. There will be another book review up later this week.

Seven years ago, on Valentine's day, my husband proposed to me by singing the song "Unforgettable" and changing some of the lyrics so that they were about us. Every year since then he has taken another song and done the same. This year he went to the next level.

He was approached by our friend (singer/songwriter/guitarist Mike Mercado) to sing a song he was working on. Mike had the tune, but didn't have the lyrics. Then Dan suggested that they do a song together for my Valentine's day present. Mike was inspired and after he got some information about our courtship he wrote the lyrics. So Mike wrote the song, Dan practiced in secret, they recorded it. Hours of labor went into this Fabulous song. So I'm sharing it with the world. (This song is copyrighted to Michael Mercado, 2010)

My husband then put together this slideshow of pictures of us from our courtship and wedding. (Isn't he just adorable? Look at how young we look! He has hardly any gray hairs!)

You can also listen to this song ("The Feel") by going to Mike's website.
www.myspace.com/michaelsmercado
Mike runs a professional studio (Xcytble Sounds) out of his home. There are other fabulous songs he has written and recorded on his website as well.

Then let me know what you think!! :)

Thanks for listening!
Stephanie

"The Feel" by Michael S. Mercado
Copyright 2010 Michael S. Mercado
Xcytble Sound Studios

Enchanted, Inc. by Shanna Swendson

Title: Enchanted, Inc.
Author: Shanna Swendson
Reviewer: Stephanie
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: Love
Alerts/Warnings: Some mild profanity
Premise: Katie Chandler had always heard that New York is a weird and wonderful place, but this small-town Texas gal had no idea how weird until she moved there. (King County Library System)
Opinions: Katie has a horrible job and barely enough money to survive. She is in love with New York but is suprised by all the strange things that she sees. However, she finds it more suprising that no one reacts to the strange sites she sees. Then everything changes when she is recruited to work for MSI, a magic company that needs Katie's unique talents. This book is fun and entertaining. Katie is a fun character and then you add in all the other unique characters you get a truly fabulous time. The ending is a bit predictable, but all in all it is a FabulousRead.

Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith

Title: Flygirl
Author: Sherri L. Smith
Reviewer: Stephanie
Genre: YA Historical Fiction
Rating: Love
Alerts/Warnings: None
Premise: During World War II, a light-skinned African American girl "passes" for white in order to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots. (King County Library System)
Opinions: This was a unique book that dealt with several issues. This book was about inequality and discrimination against women and African Americans. Ida Mae is a light skinned African American who joins applies and is accepted to the WASP program during WW2. However, she is accepted because they do not know she is African American. She never tells anyone about who she really is and lets them make their own assumptions. She is a strong, vibrant character with a big heart. I loved Ida Mae. (I also LOVE Patsy!! What a fabulous minor character. I would love to read a book from her perspective.)

This book is full of information about WASP and WW2. It also gives you a peek into what life would have been life for an African American woman in the 1940's. This is a stellar book that I would recommend to anyone. A truly FabulousRead.

One-Handed Catch by M.J. Auch

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. With the holidays, sick kids, and a baby being born next Monday (Congrats Karen!) we have been a little preoccupied. Hopefully, things will settle down soon. Plus, we have a couple more books to giveaway, so keep checking back!

Title: One-Handed Catch
Author: M.J. Auch
Reviewer: Stephanie
Genre: YA Fiction
Rating: Love
Alerts/Warnings: There is some slightly disturbing imagery in the first 3 chapters as the main character looses his hand, but it is not graphic.
Premise: After losing his hand in an accident in his father's butcher shop in 1946, sixth-grader Norman uses hard work and humor to learn to live with his disability and to succeed at baseball, art, and other activities. (King County Library System)
Opinions: I randomly picked up this book a couple years ago and was moved by the story. I recently reread it and again was moved by the awesomeness of this story.

Norm looses his hand in a butcher shop accident (that is discribed, but not graphically). We then follow the next year of his life as he tries to adjust to having one hand. Things that are easy with one hand, are incedibly difficult for him: tying shoes, making fire at scouts, and playing baseball. Norm loves baseball and decides he still wants to play so in his determination discovers a way for him to play with just one hand.

This is a character driven novel. Norm is a highly interesting and complex character. The emotions of this book are very true to life. (M.J. Auch took experiences from her husbands life to write the book.) Plus it is totally quirky and funny. When my husband read it he was laughing his head off. M.J. Auch captures the 11 year old boy absolutely perfectly. I hope you enjoy this FabulousRead.