What We're Reading #7 and a Give-Away!

I hope you have had a fantastic summer!  I love good summer reads and wanted to share those that I've finished over the last month. 

Join us by linking up with Ricki Jill at Art @ Home beginning tomorrow! 

We'd love to hear what you've been reading!

Trapped is a great Young Adult novel.  I read about this book in an NPR article earlier this summer about how Young Adult is becoming mainstream for adults as well.  I don't care for the labels - a good book is a good book!

This book takes place in New England.  Seven high schoolers get trapped in their school during the worst storm in history.  It's well written, fast-paced and a cool read during the hot month of July!  It's sort of a mix between The Breakfast Club and Lord of the Flies.  Check it out!

Also recommended in the NPR article was the book Flipped.  Not until I picked it up and started to read did I realize I had recently watched the movie (directed by Rob Reiner) and liked it so much I mentioned it on facebook!  Flipped is a heartwarming story of two families who live across from each other.  The youngest sibling in each house friends/ignoring relationship in their tween-young teen years.  It's really a story about developing integrity at a young age.  I'd recommend the book and the movie.  In fact, I'd like my boys to read it soon.

In the wide (and very popular) genre of The Hunger Games, Divergent, and Matched (you can see my reviews of those at the link below) comes another story that is destined to be a series and possibly a movie - Delirium.  In dystopian Portland, Maine all 18 year olds go through a process of having their brains altered to remove the need for love.  The 18 year olds are also matched up with a companion that they will marry after college.  Of course, there's a love story, a dramatic life-altering decision to be made, and engaging characters.  I'd certainly recommend Delirium if you enjoy this genre.  If you haven't stepped into this world of books yet - I'd start with The Hunger Games series and Divergent.

I'm happy to share this next book with you and will be giving away a copy this month as well!  It is the second novel by Bert Johnston.  Bert is a retired Presbyterian minister who lives in Mobile, Alabama.  Sunrise in the Cloud Forest is a mystery set in a mega-church in Mobile.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I found it fast-paced and the characters really well developed.  Bert is the father of our friend Mike (who you'll remember from the book club and wine club photos on my blog!).  So take a break from the vampires, wizards, and post-apocalyptic government-mandated worlds.  Pour yourself a glass of sweet tea and escape to Mobile.  A great read!

And I just finished up Rob Lowe's biography Stories I Only Tell My Friends.  I don't read many memoirs but I really, really, really enjoyed this one.  I'm an 80s child so a lot of his memories recalled my own.  Rob has led a pretty fascinating life and has turned a few scandals and a rocky childhood into a pretty impressive second half of life.  It was touching and funny and down-right honest.  I believe he had early childhood encounters with many of the most famous entertainers of that time.  Loved the Cary Grant encounters :)

sigh

So, please link up at Ricki Jill's blog so we can hear about What You've Been Reading! 

And if you would like a copy of Sunrise in the Cloud Forest  by Bert Johnston, please leave a comment or send me an email and I'll enter you for the drawing on Tuesday!

And just a reminder that I'm kicking off my cooking blog this weekend. 

If you'd like to follow me there, I'd love it!

Here's the link to Y'all Come Eat!

You can read my earlier book review posts by clicking here

Happy Reading!