Publisher Weekly

New Year's Eve.  Time to reflect on the past year and look ahead to the new one.  New beginnings, a fresh start.




As a kid, we looked forward to New Year's Eve because our folks would go out, we'd get a baby sitter for all nine of us and it was party time.  We'd make peanut butter sandwiches and cut them into little pieces, stick toothpicks in them and call them appetizers.  We'd wear funny hats, plastic leis and blow curled up horns that unrolled into each others faces.  Then we'd po...Read More

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It's that time of year when everyone and their uncle is doing their best of lists.  Best movie of 2007, best television show, cutest couple (really, it's on People.com) and so on.  This obviously is a very personal choice as different as we all are and should be.  While I've read and watched a lot and enjoyed much...there can be only one.  And with that said, here's my favorites:



Best Book:  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (I went through 7 book years with the Hogswarts gang and would gladly do it again and again.  Plus there is the advantage of sharing it with my children and gran...Read More

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Because the holidays are on Tuesdays this year, our WW meetings are canceled, so no WW ladies this week.  But we still have friends who are willing to weigh in with blurbs from the books they've been reading.  And let me take this opportunity to thank all who have gone above and beyond by helping me to read the piles of books that, as we speak, are tumbling over.  Loretta, Jan, Judy, Rhonda, Jenny, Anne, Lynda, Deb, Samantha, Gail and Joyce.  My heartfelt thanks for putting the word out on terrific books and the authors who write them.  Here's to blowing the lid off of 2008!


Thunder Moon by ...Read More

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Today is Christmas Eve.  It doesn't seem possible.  I mean, where did the year go?  



When I was a kid, I couldn't sleep before Christmas thinking about all the gifts I would wake up to Christmas morning.  Now what I get isn't nearly as important as what I give.  I love giving the gift that make someone squeal with delight or tear up with emotion.  At our annual "Sister Party" I gave all my sisters tote bags that had little pockets on the front for pictures.  I filled them with pictures from our childhood and early adult life when we were young and thirty seemed like old age.  There were pictures of my ...Read More

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I just finished a marathon round with Christmas books.  Not that I minded.  I especially love this time of year for books.  All my favorite genres come together with the common theme of Christmas and of course, happily ever after.  And don't we all really want that sigh at this time of year?  That moment of contentment...Peace on Earth, Good will toward All.  <sigh>

I couldn't resist and started off with A Highlander for Christmas by Sandy Blair.  Claire MacGregor runs an antique shop in Boston.  Sir Cameron MacLeod is headed for ...Read More

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Every now and then I need a book to make me laugh out loud.  You know, the kind that you tell your friends, who've also read it, the funny passage and you all start laughing so hard that you (accidently) pee your pants.  Janet Evanovich has mastered that with her Stephanie Plum series.  

Whenever I get together with my mom, sisters and nieces, we inevitably start talking Stephanisms.  It goes something like this:  "Remember when Stephanie and Lula tried to apprehend that fat guy and he was naked and covered with vaseline and they couldn't grab onto him?"  "Or, how about when Grandma Mazur was wearing hot pants in a ...Read More

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My ladies have been very busy reading this week and I am extremely grateful to them considering all the distractions during this holiday season.  But when you have great books to read, the shopping, cooking, wrapping, cleaning, card writing and socializing fall to the side.  As it should be.


Guardian’s Keep by Lori Devoti

Reviewed by Joyce 

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There is a lot of weirdness out there, but who thinks up these studies?  Money is actually given to organizations who find answers to some of the most asinine questions.  Personally, I don't care, but I'm sure somewhere, someone does.


Here's one that I'm sure kept you up all night, why don't pregnant women topple?   Really, someone studied this.  "Scientists think they have figured out why pregnant women don't lose their balance and topple over despite ever-growing weight up front. Evolution pro...Read More

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What a Sunday!  Shoveled out 9 inches of snow (it's so pretty, but what a pain in the butt) and watched the Green Bay Packers plow through the St. Louis Rams on their way to the Playoffs.  I was exhausted (I tend to get very physical during the Packer games).  

Todd, Denise, Courtney, PG and Amanda

Then the Survivor finale.  Not my favorite season.  I wanted James to win, but he got kicked out a couple of weeks ago and then I was rooting for Denise, the lunch lady...Read More

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Another busy week here.  Monday was news and kudos, Tuesday was giving books for Christmas, Wednesday had the WW ladie's friends with book blurbs and yesterday we strung lights on the Christmas tree.  Now today I get to tell you what I was doing in my spare time this week...reading, of course.


First up is Hot by Julia Harper.   Turner Hastings is working a Saturday shift at the bank when 2 inept robbers hold the place up.  This is the opportunity she needs to right a wrong from 4 years ago.  So, she takes papers that will prove her uncle innocent of embezzelment, but now is on the lam herself.  Enter Special Agent John MacKin...Read More

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Sex.  Maybe you like to write about, like to read about, like to do it (no, not cyber-sex...the real stuff).  But  how much do you really know about it?   LiveScience offers this sex myth test for us to see how much (or little) we actually have right:

1.  The sex lives of our prehistoric ancestors' were likely similar to the...

A)  Monogamous penguins
B)  Promiscuous, no-commitment bonobo chimpanzees
C)  Polygamist, harem-loving gorillas

2.  Women in ancient Egypt prevented pregnancy with...

A)  Plugs made of crocodile droppings
B)  Drinks of lemon, milk and ground water lily
C)  Offerings to the ferti...Read More

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Well, the WW ladies have the day off, but the Friends are in the house. Today we have Gail with her very first blurb...well done Gail.  And to that reading maniac, Joyce, thanks for being a bookaholic and sharing.

One Bite Stand by Nina Bangs 

Reviewed by Joyce 

This whimsical comedy is peopled with a wide variety of supernaturals, several of whom were introduced in previous books.  Though Daria is half harpy, she is afraid of failure at her job as one, for she is too pretty, too tastefu...Read More

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