Giveaway: The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent

"Martha was not a witch. Merely a ferocious woman!"

Congratulations to Brenda, Allison and Lori & Steve! AND Mel! They have won copies of The Heretic's Daughter! And thanks to everyone for entering the contest and joining in on the fun!

Author Kathleen Kent, a direct descendant of the real Martha Carrier, says she grew up hearing stories about Carrier and her tribulations from her mother and grandmother... Here's her fictionalized story of Martha Carrier's life before and after the trial...

Martha Carrier was one of the first women to be accused, tried and hanged as a witch in Salem, Massachusetts. Like her mother, young Sarah Carrier is bright and willful, openly challenging the small, brutal world in which they live. Often at odds with one another, mother and daughter are forced to stand together against the escalating hysteria of the trials and the superstitious tyranny that led to the torture and imprisonment of more than 200 people accused of witchcraft. This is the story of Martha's courageous defiance and ultimate death, as told by the daughter who survived.

Kathleen Kent is a tenth generation descendent of Martha Carrier. She paints a haunting portrait, not just of Puritan New England, but also of one family's deep and abiding love in the face of fear and persecution.

I am so excited to be able to offer The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent for a giveaway! I've always been fascinated with the Salem witch trials and The Heretic's Daughter has gotten such great reviews! Kathleen Kent's personal connection to Martha Carrier makes me all the more eager to read it, because I'm sure that the stories she heard as a child growing up has added depth to her story.

October is National Reading Group Month, and there should be plenty to discuss in a book about the Salem witch trials! Here is a link to the reading group guide for The Heretic's Daughter! Educators are excited about Kathleen's book too, here's a LINK to a teaching guide. Listen to Kathleen Kent talk about her novel, Salem, witches and, of course, Halloween on Blog Talk Radio. Find a link to my review here after I've finished reading it. But in the meantime, let's have some fun!

Courtesy of Valerie of Hachette Book Group, I have 5 copies of The Heretic's Daughter available for a giveaway! Thanks Valerie!

To Enter this giveaway...

*For one entry leave me a comment with your email address!

*Get an extra entry for following my blog! Just leave a comment letting me know you're a follower! ( Not a follower yet? No problem, sign up by clicking on the 'followers" button! Just let me know you became a new follower!)

*Blog or tweet about this giveaway and leave me the link.

This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only.(No PO boxes). The books will be shipped to the winners directly from the publisher. Contest ends 11:59pm EST on Halloween, Oct. 31st. I will randomly pick the winners the next day and email them! (please check your email.. winner must reply to me within 3 days! Thanks!) Good Luck!

*P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!

Giveaway: Breaking The Bank by Yona Zeldis McDonough! Blog Tour & Review Too!

What Would You Do If an ATM machine spit out thousands of dollars for FREE?!

Congratulations to Jennifer & Jaime! They have won copies of Breaking the Bank! Thanks to everyone who joined in on the fun! There were alot of creative answers to what you would do if the ATM was spitting out $$! But EVERYone would have given the money back!

Mia Saul is having a bad "life"... she just lost her job... the love of her life, her soul-mate, her husband, left her for a manicurist... she's had to move into a run-down apartment with a drug dealer for a neighbor... she's trying to raise her 10 year old daughter Eden alone... and she's practically broke all the time...

She forgets the groceries she just bought with the last of her cash when she picks Eden up from afterschool. So in order to feed her daughter she makes a trip to the ATM machine. She calculates that she has just enough money for rent and takes whatever is left out. One Hundred dollars... but wait... the machine spit out more than that... the machine gave her $200! The receipt said $100 though...

When she finds the ATM machine spitting out hundreds and then thousands of dollars every time she makes a withdrawal, her troubles seem to be behind her... until they catch up with her!

I enjoyed Breaking The Bank so much! The characters are written so well and the story takes some great turns that really made you keep turning those pages! Yona Zeldis McDonough really made me feel Mia's angst as she tried to make ends meet, deal with her daughter's growing need for her father and growing anxieties about her family & friends. The money was a blessing for a little while, but then add police, a night in jail, a mother, brother and sis-in-law that think you're an unfit mother, and the money doesn't seem to be the answer you were looking for... You'll love reading the predicaments Mia gets herself into! They seem to get worse and worse, but you'll be there cheering her on! I know I was! There are some great characters you'll meet when you open up the pages of Breaking The Bank, and it would make a great book club read too! What would you do if you found an ATM machine that seemed to give free money? And there's so much to discuss about her family, the men in her life and the way she's raising Eden! Here's the Reading Group Guide with some great discussion questions! Would you like to read an excerpt? Here's The First Chapter!

A Big Thank You! for Sarah from Pocket Books for sending along the Break The Bank for me to review! This was the first book I read by Yona Zeldis McDonough, but it's not her first book! Learn more about her at her Website!

Guess What!? Courtesy of Sarah and Pocket Books, I can give away 2 copies of Break The Bank to readers of Chick with Books! To be eligible for the giveaway you must have a US address though!

To Enter this Giveaway..

*For one entry leave me a comment with your email address!

*Get an extra entry for following my blog! Just leave a comment letting me know you're a follower! ( Not a follower yet? No problem, sign up by clicking on the 'followers" button! Just let me know you became a new follower!)

*For another entry Blog or tweet about this giveaway and leave me the link.

*For a bonus entry, tell me what YOU would do if the ATM machine spit out thousands instead of the $100 you asked for!

This giveaway is open to US Residents only (Please no P.O.Boxes!) Contest ends 11:59 pm EST on Oct. 24th. I'll randomly pick the winners the next day and email the winners. Please check your email... winners must reply to me within 3 days...

Chick with Books is part of Yona Zeldis McDonoughs Book Blog Tour for Breaking The Bank. Here are the other blogs participating in her Tour:

Drey’s Library, Found Not Lost, Rundpinne, The Brain Lair, My Own Little Corner of the World, My Reading Room, All About {n}, Bookin’ with Bingo, I’m Booking It, My Guilty Pleasures, Blog Business World, Crazy For Books, Libby’s Library News, Jeanne’s Ramblings, Just Another New Blog, My Book Addiction and More, That’s A Novel Idea, Bookfoolery and Babble, Booksie’s Blog, So Many Books, So Little Time, My Five Monkeys, Chicks Love Lit , Hers For The Reading, Lit and Life, Psychotic State, Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews, Book Magic Metroreader, Starting Fresh, Keep on Booking, Foreign Library Circus

Sunday Salon... Banned Books Week finishes up with a Thank You and a Special Giveaway!

The Banned Book Giveaway has Ended! CONGRATS! To Stpand who won! He Chose Catcher in The Rye! Thanks to EVERYone for joining in on the fun! And for participating in Banned Book Week!

What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them, and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake...

Today wraps up Banned Books Week. A week to celebrate the freedom to read. It's been a wonderful week to share favorite books, discover new books and talk about the challenges that face authors whose words may offend some and inspire others...

During this week there has been chatter about how Banned Books Week is really a fallacy- that even if a book is banned somewhere such as your child's library, that you can still get the book elsewhere. So that really books aren't banned in the sense that you CAN'T get them, so why Banned Books Week?

Banned Books Week to me is the celebration of the freedom to read & the freedom of expression. Yes, in the truest sense of the word, banned may not be accurate in the U.S. because even if the book is banned somewhere, you should be able to purchase the book elsewhere. But it's the threat to our freedoms, the threat to our talented writers who may feel inhibited in their writing that makes this one week important, a week to examine the books that are challenged & banned and the reasons behind the controversies. If readers never said a word and let every book that someone didn't approve of be removed from the shelves, how many books would be left?

So Thank You to everyone who shared their thoughts, books and links to their blogs in order for us all to appreciate the written word! I know I discovered new books to read! And of course I spent the week with Holden Caulfield... I'll catch you up later with that...

In the meantime... as a special thank you for everyone who followed along here with Banned Books Week, and Chick with Books readers, I'm going to giveaway one paperback copy of ANY of the "Banned Books" I talked about this week for banned book week! So, starting with last weeks Sunday Salon which highlighted 3 banned books, just leave a comment letting me know which banned or challenged book you'd like to read , and leave me your email address too! The giveaway is open to EVERYone (as long as I can mail a book to you!) and that means INTERNATIONAL! The giveaway will end next Sunday October 11th at 11:59 Pm!

Next sunday, Sunday Salon will be back with some great recommendations and books that caught my eye! Monday Memoirs will be taken over by 2 great books that are being highlighted all over the reading blogosphere for that one day. (Memoir Monday will be back the following monday!). October is National Reading Group Month and we'll be talking about that next week, and recommending some great book club reads. So, stop by next week and in the meantime, enter the giveaway for a banned book! Leave me a comment below!

Happy Reading... Suzanne

Swimsuit by James Patterson ...Audio Book .......Giveaway!.......

Swimsuit by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro

It's to Die For....

And It's An Audio Book Giveaway!

A heart-pounding story of fear and desire, SWIMSUIT transports listeners to a chilling new territory where the collision of beauty and murder transforms paradise into a hell of unspeakable horrors.....

The beach will never be the same for you again...

A Breathtakingly beautiful supermodel disappears from a swimsuit photo shoot at the most glamorous hotel in Hawaii. Only hours after she goes missing, Kim McDaniel's parents receive a terrifying phone call...

Ex-cop Ben Hawkins, now a reporter for the LA.Times, gets the McDaniels assignment. The ineptitude of the local police force defies belief - Ben has to start his own investigation for Kim Daniels to have a prayer. And Ben to have the story of his life...

All the while, the killer sets the stage for his next production...

This audio book has it all! A great story AND a great narrator! The story grabbed me from the start, but the narrator really brought the story alive for me! Christian Rummel narrates Swimsuit and has a good voice, good timing and really reads the book with feeling! I really enjoyed listening to Christian reading it. I listened intently as the story got more and more intense. This audio book is also unabridged! Which is a BIG plus! With 6 CD's we get the WHOLE story, not an edited one! If you've never given an audio book a try start with this one! If you like audio books this will not disappoint you! Would you like to listen to an excerpt? Here's the LINK. Check out James Patterson's website HERE for more info on Swimsuit! And check out Hachette Audio Books for more great audio books HERE!

NOW for the Giveaway! I have 3 copies of James Patterson's audio book Swimsuit for a giveaway to my readers courtesy of Anna B. of Hachette Book Group. Thank you Anna for the opportunity to share this wonderful audio book!

To Enter this giveaway...

*For one entry leave me a comment with your email address!

*For another entry, follow my blog and leave a comment to let me know you just became a follower. (if you already are a follower you will get an extra entry!)

*For another entry Blog or tweet about this giveaway and leave me the link.

*For an extra entry in your comment tell if you ever listen to audio books and if yes share a favorite with us! ( I'll list all the suggestions later on!)

This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only.(No PO boxes). The books will be shipped to the winners directly from the publishers. Contest ends 11:59pm EST on July 25th. I will randomly pick the winners the next day and email them! (please check your email.. winner must reply to me within 3 days! Thanks!) Good Luck!

**P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!