Book Giveaways Part I

August 1, 2007

Dear Member,

*Important*

As of August 5, you will only be able to enter to win books through this newsletter and not the homepage. So click on those enter to win links now so you don't forget to do it later!

And tell you club that order to win books, they need to subscribe this newsletter--so pass it on!

NEW! Check out the most recently reviewed books by book clubs and the newest book selections of your fellow members.

Cold Rock River by JL Miles
Article by JL Miles Enter to win this book for your club This book began as Adie's journey. It wasn't until I went to the library to do some research-and stumbled upon the slave narratives-that Tempe's portion came to life. The complete collection, which includes over two thousand first-person accounts, is housed at The Library of Congress in Washington D.C. Commissioned by President Roosevelt, they are as fascinating as they are poignant. After seven months of carefully sifting through the vast material, Adie and Tempe's parallel journey emerged. Henceforth, I came to think of Cold Rock River as Fried Green Tomatoes meets Cold Mountain. It's been said that life is like a patch-work quilt. It's not over until the last stitch is put in place. Here are selected pieces of fabric that blanket Adie and Tempe's lives, two young women who learned to treasure their joy in spite of their sorrow. May you discover what they did, that the joy of our journey is not in the destination; it's in the moment at hand. About the Author JL is available to meet with book clubs to call-in to your book club by speakerphone and meet clubs within 60 miles of Atlanta, GA. Request a call-in or appearance at your book club

Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys and the Battle for America's Soul by Karen Abbot

Article by Karen Abbott

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In 1905, a woman named Katherine Filak said her first and final goodbye to the red-roofed cottages and soaring church spires of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and boarded a boat to America. Twenty-one years old and a devout Catholic, she prayed about what lay ahead: work as a domestic and abuse from strange neighborhood men, who tricked her into reciting English curse words. She raised six children, my grandmother among them, and experienced a heartbreak not uncommon to immigrants at the turn of the last century. A sibling, who accompanied her on the trip from Europe, ventured to Chicago and was never seen again.

This sibling's disappearance became her lone defining trait-my great-grandmother, I'm told, refused to speak of her-and over time I've imagined this lost relative's face, retraced unknown steps, filled in the blanks of her life by probing the city that might have taken it. Chicago in that year experienced a particularly brutal crime wave; not since a mild-mannered killer stalked the grounds of the 1893 World's Fair had its citizens experienced such fear. "A reign of terror is upon the city," declared the Tribune. "No city in time of peace ever held so high a place in the category of crime-ridden, terrorized, murder-breeding cities as is now held by Chicago."

The daily tallies of muggings, rapes and homicides were troublesome enough, but a new threat-unfamiliar, and therefore especially menacing-prepared to creep through Chicago. Young girls stepped from trains into a city steeped in smoke and sin-a "stormy, husky, brawling" city, as Carl Sandburg so affectionately wrote-and vanished without warning or word. Stories abounded, growing more detailed and honed with each retelling. Predatory men met these girls at depots. They professed love at first sight, promised work and shelter and protection. Instead these girls were drugged, robbed of their virtue by professional rapists, sold to Levee madams, and dead within five years.

Most of the brothels in the city's thriving vice district were indeed wicked, block upon block of dingy, anonymous, 25-cent cribs, but one, in remarkably short order, became as well known as Chicago itself. I never learned the truth about my missing relative, but instead discovered two women, Minna and Ada Everleigh, whose pasts were even more intriguing and mysterious.

SIN IN THE SECOND CITY tells the story of the Everleigh Club and its iconic madams, their libertine clients and bitter rivalries, and their battle to preserve the empire they so lovingly built. I want to stress that this is a work of nonfiction; every character I describe lived and breathed, if not necessarily thrived, on the Levee's mean streets.

Before opening their world-famous Club, the Everleigh sisters, too, were girls who disappeared, and they reconstructed their histories at a time when America was updating its own. To that end, this book is also about identity, both personal and collective, and the struggle inherent in deciding how much of the old should accompany us as we rush, headlong, into the new.

About the Author

Karen is available to call in to clubs and to meet with book clubs in the NYC, Atlanta of Philadelphia area. Email Karen to request a call-in or appearance at your club

Dockside by Susan Wiggs

Article by Susan Wiggs

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The central idea of this book is second chances and expecting the unexpected. I never imagined I would be writing Greg Bellamy's story for the Lakeshore Chronicles, but in past books (Summer at Willow Lake, The Winter Lodge) he struck a chord with readers. So really, it was reader interest that inspired me to tell his story. The idea that sparked my imagination came from my research of the old Catskills towns in the area. Having lived in the vicinity until age ten, I have a lot of nostalgic memories of the mountains and picturesque small towns. Avalon is a fictional evocation of towns like Phoenicia, New Paltz and Windham, NY.

After reading this book, I hope readers will find entertainment and affirmation in a story of all the loves that fill a woman's life.

About the Author

Susan is available to to call-in to book clubs around the country and meet with clubs in the Puget Sound area. Email her to request a call-in or appearance at your next book club.

Big Numbers by Jack Getze

Article by Jack Getze

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Over a woe-is-me, three-martini lunch 20 years ago, a pal and fellow disgruntled stockbroker told me a tale that became the basis for my debut novel, Big Numbers.

A half-eaten olive spat from my mouth even before I heard the punchline. "Say that again?"

"Jim was a stock-jockey like the rest of us, living hand-to-mouth, until his richest client died," my pal said. "One week after the client's funeral, Jim started dating the rich new widow."

I picked up my errant and twice-bitten green olive.

"And Jim married her?"

"Yup," my friend said.

Bottoms up on my third martini. "That sounds like a novel."

"A noir tale of greed."

Maybe it was the times. The mid-1980s celebrated renewed and sharp economic growth, even greed in my opinion. Or maybe it was just my own greed, my desire to escape the dismally frustrating and soulfully repugnant stock and bond trade. Dialing for dollars, we used to call it. Income based solely on commissions. Believe me, avarice gets nurtured daily when you watch your salary go back to zero every month.

"God, that really sounds like a novel," I said again five minutes later. I imagined movies with famous redheads, a handsome young star as hero. Piles of cash. Boats. Stolen securities.

"You should write it," my friend said.

I did. It's called Big Numbers.

Jack Getze About the Author

Jack is available to call-in to clubs via speakerphone and to meet clubs in the NYC & New Jersey area. Email Jack to request a call-in or appearance at your next book club.

Locked In by Mike Esposito

Article by Mike Esposito

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Locked In is a medical thriller about a group of physicians and a malpractice attorney who profit by creating malpractice cases. The doctors use their patients as pawns in their malpractice game. They change their patients' medical records, perform unnecessary operations, and report erroneous findings. The scheme goes smoothly until one of their patients dies. Or was he murdered? The rest of the members in the scheme get suspicious and some try to break free. Before they are able to quit, the group sets up one of their fellow members (the radiologist) in one final high profile case. Read how the radiologist tries to stop them from harming another innocent victim. The exciting climax will entertain and surprise you.

The idea for writing the book came to me at work. Medicine is not an exact science. Errors occur that are sometimes unavoidable but attorneys could view these mistakes as malpractice. What if someone reported these transgressions? Could a doctor profit from his fellow physicians' mishaps?

I want readers to finish reading and ask, "Could this happen to me?" Question your health care provider and seek a second opinion. You are the best person to be in charge of your own health care.