Carol's Notebook

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson About the book: In this electrifying follow-up to the phenomenal best seller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, it is Lisbeth Salander, the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker, who is the focus and fierce heart of the story. Mikael Blomkvist—crusading journalist and publisher of the magazine Millennium—has decided to publish a story exposing an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern Europe and Sweden, implicating well-known and highly placed members of Swedish society, business, and government. On the eve of publication, the two reporters responsible for the story are brutally murdered. But perhaps more shocking for Blomkvist: the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander. Now, as Blomkvist—alone in his belief in her innocence—plunges into his own investigation of the slayings, Salander is drawn into a murderous hunt in which she is the prey, and which compels her to revisit her dark past in an effort to settle with it once and for all. The giveaway: This is a...

Casting Spells by Barbara Bretton Do you believe in the magic of true love? Chloe Hobbs lives in Sugar Maple, Vermont, a picture perfect village, and owns Sticks & Strings, a mecca for knitting tourists. Sugar Maple has a secret, though, that is hidden from the outside by a protective spell put in place hundreds of years ago. All the inhabitants are magical beings - vampire, witches, sprites, selkie, etc, but they all get along for the most part. The spell protects the town, allowing outsiders to see it only as a beautiful town filled with normal, although slightly quirky people. Well, not all of them are magical. Chloe may be the daughter of a sorceress, but her father was a human, and up to now, she has no magical abilities whatsoever. The problem is the town's future is in her hands.  Only she can keep the protective spell intact. Enter Luke MacKenzie. When he and Chloe touch, sparks literally fly. They are meant for...

Thanks to Marcia at The Printed Page for hosting Mailbox Monday. I got a couple in the mail this week.       City of Refuge by Valerie Farber Received from publicist for review. Bat-Shachar, a teenaged girl gifted with beauty and intellect, languishes in the household of her father, a prominent Israelite scholar. Intimidated by Bat-Shachar's coming of age, her father grows aloof. He scrutinizes her actions, and his discipline is heavy-handed. Her father's rages drive Bat-Shachar from home. In the company of the family's Canaanite maidservant, Bat-Shachar happens upon pagan rituals. The visions she sees shake her to the core of her existence. Tzuriel is a metalworking apprentice. Upon seeing the agony of his people butchered by marauders, he vows to equip his nation for battle. After infiltrating enemy territory to acquire the forbidden skills of crafting iron weapons, Tzuriel faces an awesom fate, borne of a fleeting indiscretion. The paths of Bat-Shachar and Tzuriel intertwine when they are expelled from their tribal villages. They race towards...

I thought I’d let you know some of the giveaways I ran across this week. As always, my current giveaway is listed on my sidebar and make sure you check out West of Mars- Win a Book! where there's always a ton of links to great contests, interviews and guest posts. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, at Bookish Ruth (ends September 3, US and Canada) Water Witch by Deborah LeBlanc, at Jenny Loves to Read (ends September 8, US and Canada, no PO boxes) National Geographic Kids Almanac 2010 and a backpack full of school supplies, at Booking Mama (ends September 8, US and Canada) The Greatest Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick, at A Reader's Respite (ends September 10, US and Canada) The Greatest Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick, at Booking Mama (ends September 10, US and Canada, no PO boxes) The Widow's War by Mary Mackey, at The Tome Traveller's Weblog (ends September 12, US) The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathie...