Found Not Lost

My Comments:
I am excited to introduce you to this book, released today, Cleopatra’s Daughter by Michelle Moran. Here is a short story from the Amazon page for Cleopatra’s Daughter just to give you an idea of what the book is about:

From Publishers Weekly
Moran’s latest foray into the world of classical history (after The Heretic Queen) centers upon the children of Marc Antony and Cleopatra . After the death of their parents, twins Alexander and Selene and younger brother Ptolemy are in a dangerous position, left to the mercy of their father’s greatest rival, Octavian Caesar. However, Caesar does not kill them as expected, but takes the trio to Rome to be paraded as part of his triumphant return and to demonstrate his solidified power. As the twins adapt to life in Rome in the inner circle of Caesar’s family, they grow into adulthood ensconced in a web of secrecy, intrigue and constant danger. Told from Selene’s perspective, the tale draws readers into the fascinating world of ancient Rome and into the court of Rome’s first and most famous emperor. Deftly encompassing enough political history to provide context, Moran never clutters her narrative with extraneous facts. Readers may be frustrated that Selene is more observer than actor, despite the action taking place around her, but historical fiction enthusiasts will delight in this solid installment from a talented name in the genre.

I haven’t had a chance to read the book yet but I have seen it being given away on various blogs and I’ve probably entered every one of them but haven’t had any luck winning one yet. So how much of a coincidence is it that I received an email offering some free book marks and book plates as a consolation price for not winning the giveaway? Not being one to refuse anything for free, I went to the Cleopatra’s Daughter’s website and started looking around. I found some very interesting facts about the book and also some fun facts about Roman history and other related items to the book. Then I found more giveaways direct from the author and also a bloggers section. I found out I can ask to review the book directly!
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If you’re a blog reader like I am, I’m sure you’ve seen WAT-AAH! on other sites. I did, before I even got to try the actual samples, I entered a few giveaways on friend’s blogs. I didn’t win any of them unfortunately but I finally did get to sample some of what they were talking about. I received a sample pack of WAT-AAH! containing one bottle of each ‘flavor’ and some cute items like stickers and temporary tattoos that my daughters just loved.

First off, they knew what they were doing when they said these were designed for children because my girls were immediately attracted to the packaging. As a mom, I can tell you that when marketing to kids, packaging is very important and no matter how we moms warn them about the allure of packaging, they ignore us and go for the thing that catches their eyes first anyway. My girls liked how you can see another message on the back of the front label when you look at it from the back. They got a kick out of that one. I know, easily amused they are

I’ve always encouraged the girls to drink lots of water and when they started playing sports and heard the same speech about staying hydrated from their coach, the message finally sunk in. I know! Isn’t it just typical how we moms can repeat the same advice over and over again and all we get are eye rolls then someone else like their coach tells them the same things and all of a sudden, it’s “coach said….. drink lots of water…… good for you…… hydrated……” Geesh!
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Book: Stray Affections
Author: Charlene Ann Baumbich

Book Summary:
In Stray Affections, the last thing that Cassandra expects out of her Sunday is to be mesmerized at a collectors’ convention by a snowglobe. She’s enjoying some shopping time, with husband Ken at home tending their brood of four young boys, when she’s utterly charmed by the one-of-a kind globe containing figures of three dogs and a little girl with hair the color of her own. She can’t resist taking the unique globe home—even if means wrestling another shopper for it!

The beautiful snowglobe sparks long-dormant memories for Cassie, of her beloved Grandpa Wonky, the stray she rescued as a child and the painful roots of her combative relationship with her mother, “Bad Betty” Kamrowski. Life in Wanonishaw, Minnesota is never dull, though, and Cassie keeps the recollections at bay, busy balancing her boys, her home daycare operation, and being a good friend to best pal Margret. But after a strange—flurrious, as Cassie deems it—moment happens with the remarkable snowglobe, Cassie and the people she loves are swirled into a tumultuous, yet grace-filled, and life-changing journey.

“As a believer, I know the power of forgiveness and new beginnings, and of a God, and family and friends, who love me the way I am,” Charlene Ann Baumbich says. “The heartbeat of change flows through those wonderful gifts.”

With the quirky, close-knit Midwestern small-town feel that made Charlene Ann Baumbich’s acclaimed Dearest Dorothy novels so popular, Stray Affections invites readers to experience the laughter and the healing of second chances.
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THE BLUE STAR
By Tony Earley.
Publish Date: 8/26/2009
Price: $13.99/$15.50
ISBN: 9780316008051
Pages: 336

Summary
Seven years ago, readers everywhere fell in love with Jim Glass, the precocious ten-year-old at the heart of Tony Earley’s bestseller Jim the Boy. Now a teenager, Jim returns in another tender and wise story of young love on the eve of World War Two.

Jim Glass has fallen in love, as only a teenage boy can fall in love, with his classmate Chrissie Steppe. Unfortunately, Chrissie is Bucky Bucklaw’s girlfriend, and Bucky has joined the Navy on the eve of war. Jim vows to win Chrissie’s heart in his absence, but the war makes high school less than a safe haven, and gives a young man’s emotions a grown man’s gravity.

With the uncanny insight into the well-intentioned heart that made Jim the Boy a favorite novel for thousands of readers, Tony Earley has fashioned another nuanced and unforgettable portrait of America in another time–making it again even realer than our own day.

This is a timeless and moving story of discovery, loss and growing up, proving why Tony Earley’s writing “radiates with a largeness of heart” (Esquire).
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JULIE AND JULIA
By Julie Powell
Publish Date: 7/1/2009
ISBN: 9780316044271
Pages: 352

Summary
Julie & Julia, the bestselling memoir that’s “irresistible….A kind of Bridget Jones meets The French Chef” (Philadelphia Inquirer), is now a major motion picture. Julie Powell, nearing thirty and trapped in a dead-end secretarial job, resolves to reclaim her life by cooking in the span of a single year, every one of the 524 recipes in Julia Child’s legendary Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Her unexpected reward: not just a newfound respect for calves’ livers and aspic, but a new life-lived with gusto. The film version is written and directed by Nora Ephron and stars Amy Adams as Julie and Meryl Streep as Julia.
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Two of our book giveaways ended yesterday and winners have been chosen! Emails have been sent and winners have two days to reply with their mailing address or another winner will be chosen.

Congratulations to all the winners!

The Friends We Keep & 40 Min Bible Studies Blog Tour
Prize: 3 books (The Friends We Keep, What Does the Bible Say About Sex? and Rising to the Call of Leadership) to one winner
Winner: GAhome2mom

Seduce Me by Robyn DeHart
Prize: A copy of Seduce Me (5 winners)
Winners: Alexandrea M, dag888888, nfmgirl aka Cerebral Girl, Debbie, Maya M of The Apprentice Writer
UPDATE: nfmgirl already won this book on another site so she graciously gave her copy to the next person in line who is: Lethea Benson!