In the Land of Cotton by Martha Taylor
Immerse yourself in this highly anticipated political docu-drama set in the Deep South amidst the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement. Martha was a young white girl living in the Deep South, inundated with the racist sentiments of the times. But Martha’s natural curiosity and generous heart led her to question this racial divide. When she discovered a primitive Negro family living deep in the woods near her house, everyone’s life changed forever. Take the journey of a lifetime alongside Martha as she forges relationships that lead to self discovery and a clearer understanding of the world around her. In the Land of Cotton provides an outstanding snapshot of life in the South during those troubled times – a snapshot everyone should take a close look at, regardless of era or color.

Worst Nightmares by Shane Briant
Dermot Nolan is an award-winning bestselling author who seems to have it all—a successful career, fame, fortune, and a beautiful wife. Between the royalties coming in from his most recent book and the revenue he has received from the film company that bought the rights, Dermot seems every bit the literary darling. And yet, for the last year, he has suffered from a bout of writer’s block, and in the process has grossly overspent his income. So when Dermot comes across an unsolicited manuscript stuffed into his mailbox, he cannot help but feel intrigued. It tells the story of the homicidal “Dream Healer,” who snares his victims via his website, worstnightmares.net, seduces them into revealing their innermost fears, and then kills them by revisiting their very own nightmares upon them. Dermot, with the help of his wife, begins to rework the novel, while simultaneously researching the individual dream stories. In his search, he very slowly begins to realize that the novel may not be entirely fictional, that these poor characters may have perished at the hands of a twisted torturer. Could the Dreamhealer be real? Could these innocent cyber-surfers have fallen victim to a raving maniac? Just how far is fact from fiction? And could Dermot be writing his own ticket to death…his very own worst nightmare?

Here are the latest book giveaways I have come across in my travels through the world wide web. Whenever I see a book up for giveaway that I think sounds like a good read, I will post a link to the giveaway so that all of you, my readers, can go to the website and snag a chance to win for yourself. Below you will find cover images (clickable to their Amazon.com page), the name of the author, the name of the book, the link to the giveaway, and the date the contest ends. If you need any help or have any questions, feel free to comment.

If you are hosting a book giveaway and would like me to list it here, leave me a comment with the contest URL or send me an email at morbidromantic@gmail.com.

Win Maria V. Snyder’s Storm Glass at Bitten by Books
Contest ends May 1st

Win Angie Fox’s The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers at Bitten by Books
Contest ends May 3rd

Win Eleanor Bluestein’s Tea & Other Ayama Na Tales at Savvy Verse & Wit
Contest ends May 6th

Win Suzanne McLeod’s The Cold Kiss of Death at Sally McLeod
Contest ends May 7th

Win J.A. Hunsinger’s Axe of Iron at Minds Alive on the Shelves
Contest ends May 8th

Win a $25 Amazon.com gift card from Melissa’s Bookshelf
Contest ends May 9th

Win Karen White’s The Lost Hours at In Search of Giants
Contest ends May 10th

Win Sandra Gulland’s Mistress of the Sun at Booking Mama
Contest ends May 14th

Win Jessica Brody’s The Fidelity Files at Brenda’s Blog
Contest ends May 15th

Win Patrick Carman’s The House of Power, Rivers of Fire and The Dark Planet at Booking Mama
Contest ends May 15th

Win the Asian Heritage Month at Hachette Book Group from Simply Stacie
Contest ends May 15th

Win Brian Keene’s Ghost Walk at Horror and Fantasy Book Review
Contest ends May 15th

Win Emily Listfield’s Best Intentions at So Many Precious Books, So Little Time
Contest ends May 16th

Win Michelle Richmond’s No One You Know at Presenting Lenore
Contest ends May 19th

Win the Asian Heritage Month at Hachette Book Group from Jo-Jo loves to read
Contest ends May 31st

Win the Latino Heritage Month at Hachette Book Group from Luxury Reading
Contest ends May 31st

Win Charlotte Lovejoy’s Madame Bliss at Fang-tastic Books

Title: Follow Me
Author(s): Joanna Scott
Genre: Fiction – Drama
Finished: April 27, 2009
Rating: 4 Stars

Sally Werner, a Pennsylvania farm girl, decides to throw caution to the wind and take a ride on her cousin’s motorcycle. This choice will change her life forever. A teenager mother in 1946, she abandons her baby boy with her family and runs away to start a new life only a few miles away. Sally runs to escape the people she feels judges her for her mistakes. Yet the unfortunate nature of her life is that she always feels like she has to run away and start over again. Most of the time, this is the result of her own feelings of threat and failure. With each new place that Sally runs to, she adopts a new name, a name she feels will change her fortune and reflects something she has left behind or wishes to be.

Along the way Sally has another child, a daughter named Penelope. As Sally runs, so too does Penelope until Penelope meets auburn haired Abe and falls in love. Sally’s story is told by her namesake and granddaughter, the child of Penelope and Abe. Towards the end of the book, the shocking family ‘secret’ is revealed by Sally and drives Abe away.

Scott has a beautiful way with words. The imagery she uses to describe the world around Sally invokes a clear picture of the trickling Tuskee River and the small, rural Pennsylvania towns Sally hops to and from. There are times when Sally expresses a self-doubt and detachment that I have felt many times. I can see a lot of myself in Sally, especially in the way that she regards the world as a struggling outsider looking in, always waiting for her moment to feel connected. Sally’s internal dynamic is interesting as well because she is a contradicting mixture of strong and assured, but also weak and afraid. It takes a lot of guts to pick up and start over again, but Sally does this each time because she wants to escape the people around her. So, it’s hard to tell what Sally is and that makes her more realistic. Sally is a bundle of one inconsistency after another as most of us are.

Sally has a hard life, but she doesn’t make it any better for herself each time she runs away. The thing she is good at, singing, she purposefully stuffs away for a long time. Again, this is something that I find familiarity in. Sally is not without remorse for leaving her son behind, or for leaving some of the people who helped her early on as she was just getting on her feet. Even as she runs away, she always looks back on the people she has left behind.

I honestly enjoyed this book from page one. Since Sally’s life is cut up into chunks, each stage is paced just right that I didn’t feel any lag in the plot. As I said above, the descriptions are both beautiful and believable. Scott is a truly talented writer. With just a few words, she is able to evoke emotion and reality all in one breath. It takes talent to captivate, which Follow Me certain does.

Would you like to enter to win a copy of Follow me by Joanna Scott? Five lucky winners will win a copy, and one winner will get both Follow Me and another of Scott’s works Liberation. To enter the contest, go here and follow the instructions.

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Disclaimer(s):

- More can be found in my Reviews section.
- If you would like me to review your book, send an email to me at morbidromantic@gmail.com. Read my Book Review Policy for more information.

About Joanna Scott:
Joanna Scott is the author of nine books, including The Manikin, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; Various Antidotes and Arrogance, which were both finalists for the PEN/Faulkner Award; and the critically acclaimed Make Believe, Tourmaline, and Liberation. A recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Lannan Award, she lives with her family in upstate New York.

Book Description:
On a summer day in 1946 Sally Werner, the precocious young daughter of hardscrabble Pennsylvania farmers, secretly accepts her cousin’s invitation to ride his new motorcycle. Like so much of what follows in Sally’s life, it’s an impulsive decision with dramatic and far-reaching consequences. Soon she abandons her home to begin a daring journey of self-creation, the truth of which she entrusts only with her granddaughter and namesake, six decades later. But when young Sally’s father–a man she has never known–enters her life and offers another story altogether, she must uncover the truth of her grandmother’s secret history.

Boldly rendered and beautifully told, in FOLLOW ME Joanna Scott has crafted a paean to the American tradition of re-invention and a sweeping saga of timeless and tender storytelling.

You can read my review of Follow Me here.

Giveaway!

Thanks to the Hatchette Book Group, I have 5 copies of Follow Me and one copy of Liberation up for grabs. One lucky winner will win both books, the other four will just win Follow Me. This contest is open to residents of the US and Canada only, and can not be sent to PO Boxes. Contest ends on May 9th, 11:59pm. You can enter doing one or all of the below:

1.) Leave a comment below telling me that you’d like to win.
2.) Blog about this contest and leave a comment with the links.
3.) Add me on twitter (@morbidromantic) and Tweet this contest then comment with a link to the Tweet or your username.
4.) Stumble this giveaway or my main site and comment with your StumbleUpon username.
5.) Add my RSS reader here and leave me a comment telling me that you subscribe to my feed.
6.) Comment on any of my previous blog posts and leave me a comment telling me that you have.
7.) Answer this question: what do you do when you feel like running away?

Participating Blogs:

http://peekingbetweenthepages.blogspot.com/

http://www.writeforareader.blogspot.com/

http://bermudaonion.wordpress.com/

http://abookbloggersdiary.blogspot.com/

http://thereviewfromhere.wordpress.com/

http://bookopolis.blogspot.com/

http://www.caribousmom.com/

http://www.frommipov.blogspot.com/

http://luanne-abookwormsworld.blogspot.com/

http://redladysreadingroom-redlady.blogspot.com/

http://mindingspot.blogspot.com/

http://thetometraveller.blogspot.com/

http://dreyslibrary.blogspot.com/

http://hiddenplace.wordpress.com/

http://stephaniesbooks.blogspot.com/

http://www.acircleofbooks.blogspot.com/

http://bananas4books.blogspot.com/

http://www.bookthoughtsbylisa.blogspot.com

http://martasmeanderings.blogspot.com/

http://grumpydan.blogspot.com/

http://cafeofdreams.blogspot.com/

http://worducopia.blogspot.com/

http://cindysloveofbooks.blogspot.com/

http://2kidsandtiredbooks.blogspot.com/

http://www.myspace.com/darbyscloset

http://www.myfriendamysblog.com/

http://www.skrishnasbooks.com/

http://epicrat.blogspot.com/

http://www.anovelmenagerie.com/

http://danys-san.blogspot.com

http://jennsbookshelf.blogspot.com/

http://tvandbookaddict.blogspot.com

http://literarymenagerie.blogspot.com/

http://www.chikune.com/blog

http://book-chic.blogspot.com

http://www.amberstults.com/

http://allisonsatticblog.blogspot.com

http://diaryofaneccentric.blogspot.com/

http://38thavedivareaders.blogspot.com/

http://LinussBlanket.typepad.com

http://kylees2009.blogspot.com/

http://www.savvyverseandwit.blogspot.com

http://exlibrisbb.blogspot.com/

http://bookinwithbingo.blogspot.com

http://www.xanga.com/bravehsgirl

http://purplg8r-somanybooks.blogspot.com/

http://burtonreview.blogspot.com

http://donnasbookreviews.blogspot.com/

http://www.squidoo.com/readingstaycation

http://bookingmama.blogspot.com

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Title: The Noticer
Author(s): Andy Andrews
Genre: Inspirational
Finished: April 25, 2009
Rating: 2 Stars

Jones is a somewhat mysterious drifter who, carrying only a suitcase, always seems to know when a person needs him and where he can find them. Jones is, as he claims, a “Noticer” in that he notices things around that other people often miss. He has an uncanny ability to see into a person to tell what their problems are and how best to help each person gain a new ‘perspective’ on their situation. That is Jones’ key word: perspective. To him, a situation can be changed just by altering ones perception of it.

The Noticer is more than a novel. It’s a book meant to inspire people, to change lives. As Jones gives each cookie cutter problem a solution, the reader is supposed to look within their own self and life and take the advice given to heart. Jones answers questions about goals, motivation, how to act in a way that will make people want to be around you, relationships, purpose in life, and how to treat others to gain respect. There are a plethora of scenarios, and the book is not overly plot based– it is rather a book that goes from one problem to the next to give, as Jones would say, perspective to the reader.

Jones is charming and humble, even if the other characters tend to be a bit unbelievable. Of course, I understand that the characters must be a certain way to express the points of the book. While reading the book I sometimes felt that certain parts were hard to accept. As I said above, it all seemed rather cookie-cutter and too perfect in question and response.

All in all, The Noticer was an okay book. Not great, but not awful. It was a light day read that was, for sure, inspiring.

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Disclaimer(s):

- More can be found in my Reviews section.
- If you would like me to review your book, send an email to me at morbidromantic@gmail.com. Read my Book Review Policy for more information.

Do-Over by Robin Hemley
Robin Hemley’s childhood made a wedgie of his memory, leaving him sore and embarrassed for over forty years. He was the most pitiful kindergartner, the least spirited summer camper, and dateless for prom. In fact, there’s nary an event from his youth that couldn’t use improvement. If only he could do them all over a few decades later, with an adult’s wisdom, perspective, and giant-like height… In the spirit of cult film classics like Billy Madison and Wet Hot American Summer, in DO-OVER! Hemley reencounters paper mache, revisits his childhood home, and finally attends the prom–bringing readers the thrill of recapturing a misspent youth and discovering what’s most important: simple pleasures, second chances, and the forgotten joys of recess.

Made in the U.S.A. by Billie Letts
Letts’s tale of two children who set out on a voyage to find their father after his hefty ex-girlfriend, the children’s guardian, falls dead in a Wal-Mart, is a moving coming-of-age tale. Cassandra Morris is amazingly strong in her delivery, giving a tremendous performance in which her fresh voice is perfectly suited for 15-year old Lutie. Her reading is clear and well paced, and her habit of rushing her words at times serves as an endearing character trait; she can do no wrong here. Her performance is a genuine one that will move audiences with its honesty and passion.