Wednesday, March 23, 2011

The Mountains Bow Down By Sibella Giorello

Welcome to the Blog Tour for Sibella Giorello's novel, The Mountains Bow Down. I received this book from Litfuse for my honest review of this book.

About Sibella: Sibella Giorello grew up in Alaska and majored in geology at Mount Holyoke College . After riding a motorcycle across the country, she worked as a features writer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Her stories have won state and national awards, including two nominations for the Pulitzer Prize. She now lives in Washington state with her husband and sons. Find out more about Sibella and her other books at her website. www.sibellagiorello.com

About The Mountains Bow Down: Everything's going to work out. Time away always makes things better . . ..

That's what FBI Special Agent Raleigh Harmon believes as she boards a cruise to Alaska . A land of mountains and gems and minerals, The Last Frontier is a dream destination for this forensic geologist who's hoping to leave behind a hectic work schedule and an engagement drained of romance.

But when a passenger goes missing and winds up dead, Raleigh 's vacation suddenly gets lost at sea. The ship's security chief tries to rule the death a suicide, but Raleigh 's forensics background points to a much darker conclusion: Somewhere onboard, a ruthless murderer walks free.

Engulfed by one of her toughest cases yet, Raleigh requests assistance from the FBI and receives her nemesis-perpetual ladies man Special Agent Jack Stephanson. As the cruise ship sails through the Inside Passage, Raleigh has five days to solve a high-profile murder, provide consultation for a movie filming onboard, and figure out her increasingly complicated feelings for Jack-who might not be such a jerk after all.

And that's only her work life. Family offers even more challenges. Joined on the cruise by her mother and aunt, Raleigh watches helplessly as disturbing rifts splinter her family.

Like the scenery that surrounds the cruise ship, Raleigh discovers a situation so steep and so complex that even the mountains might bow down



My Review of The Mountains Bow Down:

I have read all of the Raleigh Harmon novels and love them. The nice part about these books is that you don't have to read them all. The books help you catch up and know details from other books so there isn't a lost feeling while reading it. The Mountains Bow Down will not disappoint. We are with Raleigh again but this time on a "vacation". She is on a cruise with her mother, her Aunt, and a friend of the Aunt. Raleigh, her Aunt, and her Aunts Friend are working with a movie crew on the cruise. A murder happens that is tied to this movie crew they are there helping and Raleilgh must now be FBI agent and daughter. Her mother doesn't know she is an agent so she has to keep the worlds seperate. Raleigh gets help from a former co worker and sparks fly. This book has suspense, murder, emotional turmoil, humor and romance. All these things make for an awesome book, that you can't put down. Book is very well written, you will find yourself on the edge of your seat and then laughing. Sibella's characters are very well researched and characters that you can relate to. The storylines are strong and do draw you in. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

Link to buy the book: http://www.amazon.com/Mountains-Down-Raleigh-Harmon-Novel/dp/1595545352/ref=sprightly-20

Start the series fresh with this great deal! Pick up a copy of Book 1 for your Kindle or Nook for only $2.99! The Stones Roll Away is the critically acclaimed award winner that kicked off the Raleigh Harmon series. http://www.amazon.com/Stones-Raleigh-Harmon-Novel-ebook/dp/B004QGYURS/ref=sprightly-20


Sibella’s celebrating the release of The Mountains Bow Down with a blog tour, a Cruise prize pack worth over $500 and a Facebook Party! Don't miss a minute of the fun.






One Grand Prize winner will receive:

  • A $500 gift certificate toward the cruise of their choice from Vacations To Go.

  • The entire set of the Raleigh Harmon series.


To enter click one of the icons below. Then tell your friends. And enter soon - the giveaway ends on 4/1! The winner will be announced at Sibella’s Raleigh Harmon Book Club Party on FB April 5th, 2011! Don’t miss the fun – prizes, books and gab!


Enter via E-mail Enter via FacebookEnter via Twitter



About the Facebook Party: Join Sibella and fans of the Raleigh Harmon series on April 5th at 5:00 pm PST (6 MST, 7 CST & 8 EST) for a Facebook Book Club Party. Sibella will be giving away some fun prizes, testing your trivia skills and hosting a book chat about the Raleigh Harmon books. Have questions you'd like to chat about - leave them on the Event page.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

The Band That Played On by Steve Turner

I received this book from booksneeze.com free in return for my honest review of this books

Book Description: The never-before told, inspiring stories of the 8 brave musicians who played as the Titanic sank.

When Titanic collided with an iceberg on April 14, the eight members of the band had already retired for the evening. Still, they put on overcoats and came out to play in the lounge. When most of the First Class passengers had taken to their lifeboats, the musicians moved to the deck and continued to play as the ship sank. One passenger said: “Many brave things were done that night, but none were more brave than those done by men playing minute after minute as the ship settled quietly lower and lower in the sea. The music they played served alike as their own immortal requiem and their right to be recalled on the scrolls of undying fame.” But who were they? What journeys brought them to this deck on this icy ocean? Who did they leave behind? Historian and biographer Steve Turner delves into the lives of these brave men, revealing eight unique portraits of bravery.


The Band That Played On by Steve Turner was written with the 100th Anniversary of Titanic in mind. This is the story of 8 different men brought together as the 2 bands aboard the Titanic. These men are the unknown heroes of this ship. These 8 men played as the ship went down and didn't stop playing until they went down with the ship. Steve Turner gives us the backgrounds of these men prior to heading aboard the ship. All 8 men were believers and a few played for their churches and other religious places in the past. Three of the men had been in the band on a ship before while the five others had done multiple tours with ships including the Olympic which had its crash with the Ladyhawk. The accounts from many of the survivors of Titanic speak of these men playing Nearer My God To Me as the ship went down. They have also stated that at one point the 8 men were kneeling and playing. The story that Steve Turned wrote depicts 8 men who had accepted their fate and instead of trying to save themselves, they gave of themselves to help the other passengers on the ship stay calm and find peace.

I would recommend this book to people who are interested in the Titanic and history itself. This doesn't go over and over the details of the sinking that we have heard many times but really gives the reader an account that hasn't really been heard.

I review for BookSneeze®

The Egyptian Princess: A Story of Hagar By KD Homberg

I received this audiobook for no charge from the author and Celebrate Lit Blogger Program in exchange for my honest review of this audiobook...