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She Walks These Hills by Sharyn McCrumb
She Walks These Hills by Sharyn McCrumb
Description:
Mystery and folklore are skillfully blended in this contemporary Appalachian tale. Driving the plot are "Harm" (Hiram) Sorley, an aging prisoner suffering from recent memory loss, who receives a spiritual message to escape from prison and return home to North Carolina; history grad student Jeremy Cobb, who wants to hike the trail used by Katie Wyler in the late 1700s when she escaped from Indians who held her captive, and members of the sheriff's department. Strong females also figure prominently, not the least of whom is Katie Wyler, dead over 200 years, whose spectral image helps several characters. Assisting Sheriff Arrowwood is his newest deputy, Martha Ayers, who's determined to prove she can do the job. When all these folks converge beside a burning trailer home, more than one mystery is solved. McCrumb's rich use of dialect, accompanied by both physical description of and folklore about the mountains, combine to produce an evocative, haunting story....
Giveaways in Blogland
I was finally catching up on my blog reading and ran across some giveaways I wanted to let you know about. If there're any others I should add, please let me know in the comments. My current giveaways are listed on my sidebar.
The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Short Stories by Arthur Conan Doyle and Leslie S. Klinger, at Bookish Ruth (ends May 31, US and Canada)
The Frenchman’s Creek and My Cousin Rachel, both by Daphne du Maurier, at Passages to the Past (ends May 27, US and Canada)
Best Intentions by Emily Listfield, at Pipin’s Lair (ends May 30, US and Canada)
April and Oliver by Tess Callahan, at A Novel Menagerie (ends May 28)
The Frenchman’s Creek and My Cousin Rachel, both by Daphne du Maurier, at Peeking Between the Pages (ends May 30, US and Canada)
The Wonder Singer by George Rabasa, at Cheryl’s Book Nook (ends May 29, US and Canada)
One Deadly Sin by Annie Solomon, at Cheryl’s Book Nook...
Winners!
You won The Man's Book by Thomas Fink.
Belinda McNabb
jacque
amandasue
Summer
King of the knot people
I will be e-mailing you later today. I'll just need your mailing address so I can pass it on to Hachette Book Group. I hope you enjoy the book and maybe even find something useful in it....
Silver Dollar Girl by Katherine Ayres
Silver Dollar Girl by Katherine Ayres
From the cover:
Valentine Harper's father has been in Colorado for more than a year, seeking his fortune in the silver boom, and she's tired of waiting for him in Pittsburgh. If her father isn't ready to come back to her, she'll go to him! Of course, in 1885 a girl can't set off on her own. So, armed with a haircut, a dash of luck, and a big dose of courage, Vallie trades her skirts for boy's trousers and starts out on a cross-country journey to discover a world most girls never see.
With a strong fighting spirit, Vallie faces over-whelming odds in this well-paced adventure and stays true to the search for her father despite every setback.
My thoughts:
I don't think I've read many stories set in America in the 1880s and I'm sure I've never read anything about the silver boom. I knew it was a piece of our history, but really learned a lot from...
The Monsters of Morley Manor by Bruce Coville
The Monsters of Morley Manor by Bruce Coville
Description:
When Anthony Walker bought five brass monsters at Morley Manor, he didn't suspect that they were real—or that thawing them out of their frozen sleep would pull him and his sister, Sarah, into a galaxy spanning adventure. But soon these two brave kids have to deal with monsters, aliens, giant frogs, a tragic angel—and an eerie trip to the land of the dead. Yet for all its madcap weirdness—for all its laughs and spooky thrills—at heart Morley Manor is about the bonds that hold us together as families.
It's just that some families are stranger than others...
My thoughts:
Amber, my mom and I listened to the full cast unabridged audio recording of this on a car ride last weekend. It lasted just under 5 hours and kept our attention the entire time.
It started off with Anthony and Sarah discovering the monsters and helping them return to their full size. Then comes a twisty, turny, convoluted story of their...