Review and Giveaway of The Ghost in the Glass House

Thought for the Day:

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day, you shall begin it well and serenely..." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson~

Some Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Carol Baldwin wrote an excellent post you can see HERE about applying the beats from Save the Cat in your novel. 

Click HERE for some wonderful advice on getting your first page just right. 

An excellent post on the use of dialogue tags can be found HERE. 

When I last posted here, I offered a copy of Turn Left at the Cow to one of my readers who left a comment. It was nice to see some new readers here and one of the new readers won. Congratulations to Rebecca Petruck!! (WooHoo!) Now here is an interesting coincidence: Rebecca is an author whose debut novel, Steering Toward Normal, will release in May and just happens to be set in Minnesota and has a cow in it. How about that? I can't wait to get my hands on Rebecca's book. It looks like every bit as much fun as Turn Left at the Cow. You can learn more about Rebecca by checking out her web site by clicking HERE. 

I know I took last week off, but I had family things and some writing of my own to work on. I've got some projects I'm working on that are pretty important to me, so I might take a week off now and again, but I will be here pretty regularly with book reviews and giveaways, so please keep on coming by and tell your friends who like to read this is a good place to get free books. I have another one for you today and it's a good one. I am pasting in the review I wrote for the San Francisco/Sacramento Book Review below. I think you will enjoy it. Read on to see how you can have a chance to win a nice hardcover copy of it.

The Ghost in the Glass House

Carey Wallace

By Carey Wallace
Clarion Books, $16.99, 240 pages
Clare has not been home in three years, not since shortly after her father died. Her mother took Clare and began to travel the world, to be anywhere but where Clare’s father wasn’t. They find themselves in another rented home near the seaside. Everyone else from their group has seaside summer homes, but not Clare and her mother. But they have some things no one else has: a glass house and a resident ghost. The glass house is locked and Tilda, the housekeeper, claims the key has been lost. Clare’s mother finds the key, but Tilda hides it away. Clare keeps watch and discovers where the key is and makes a wax duplicate. When she enters the glass house, a disembodied voice speaks to her. Over days, the ghost, Jack, comes to depend on Clare and even to love her. When Clare tries to have time with her own friends, a complicated group, jealousy rears its ugly head.

“A faint weight covered her entire hand now, as if a leaf had fallen onto it from a tree above. It had none of the heat of Bram’s hand, but warmth spread through her from it, as if a tide had turned in her blood, drawing it all toward that place with stronger and stronger waves.”

This charming ghost story, set in the roaring twenties, won’t scare anyone, but shines a light on the complications of the human condition within a lovely and mysterious book.

 If you would like to have my gently-read copy of The Ghost in the Glass House, please be a follower (in the column to the right where it says "Followers" just click to Join This Site. Easy and free.), then leave a comment about the post today. Your name will go into the proverbial hat one time for that. If you want more chances, Tweet the link or post it on Facebook or some other social media sharing and tell me about it. I will put your name in the hat once more for each time you do that. This drawing is for U.S. addresses only. If you would like to hear about more marvelous middle-grade books, please hop on over to  the lovely Shannon Messenger's blog by clicking HERE and checking out the list she posts for Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday.

 

Review and Giveaway of Turn Left at the Cow

Thought for the Day:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. – Marianne Williamson

I know that I used this Thought for the Day once before, but I think it bears repeating and what better time than as we come to a brand-spanking new year? 

Some Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Fantastic post found HERE on all the dragons we writers need to kill. Don’t miss this one. 

Wonderful post on Adventures in YA Publishing by Sandra Neil Wallace can be found by clicking HERE to learn more about Turning History into Fiction. 

Setting is so important and this post will tell you exactly how important. Click HERE. 

   
When I was last here, I promised one lucky reader a copy of Period 8 by Chris Crutcher. Our winner this week is Jill the Owl! Well, she isn't really an owl, but that is the moniker she has chosen for her public-blogging self. She actually teaches sixth grade and besides running her own blog (The O.W.L. Outrageously Wonderful Literature from the Middle Grades) and hosts a blog for book reviews by her students (Hooked on Books). If you click on the titles of the blogs, you can check them out. Congratulations, Jill. I will be sending Period 8 to you this week. If you didn't win, keep reading. I've a terrific book to give away this week.

I'm kind of on holiday break this week, so I am going to paste in a review I wrote recently for the Sacramento Book Review. Some of you may know I am from Minnesota, so when I found a funny tween book set in Minnesota, I was all over it. This is a really good one.

Turn Left at the Cow

Posted in Tweens by editor - December 23, 2013

By Lisa Bullard
Harcourt Children’s Books, $16.99, 304 pages
Thirteen-year-old Travis feels like an outsider in his step-father’s house. Travis leaves California for Minnesota and his grandmother. He wants to find out about his real father. What he finds is not what he hoped for. His father disappeared long ago, before Travis was even born, and right after his father had robbed a bank. Gram is pretty sure he is dead. He wouldn’t leave her wondering all these years. But she didn’t think he was the kind of person to rob a bank either. When Travis comes to town, Gram hands him money at several times to buy things. Suddenly the sheriff is at their door. Some of the robbery money has started turning up. People think Travis has the money. Travis has made friends with Kenny and Iz, kids his age who live next door. They are looking for the money, too. Iz thinks the reward will solve all her problems. The mystery deepens for these kid detectives.

 “Any minute I was sure the stars were going to jump out of their constellations and spell out the word dweeb across the sky. I mean, there I was, alone with this hot girl, and I decided the thing we should do was play language-arts games?”

This is a terrific story with lots of fun, action, mystery, a little romance, and great characters. Kids will love it, but so will adults. It’s funny and smart. This is a real winner.

Just be a follower (free and easy -- look in the right-hand column to join) and leave a comment. I will be giving away a gently-read hardcover of this funny book. This drawing is for U. S. addresses only. If you would like to check out reviews of other middle-grade books, hop on over to Shannon Messenger's wonderful blog. Click HERE to be magically transported there. 

Have a happy and safe New Year's Eve. See you next year!