Smut Lit. My Closet Addiction to Contemporary Romance. *Guest Post*

~GUEST POST~

Thank you Christian Grey.  I have now read more books & lost even more precious sleep thanks to my new addiction to Contemporary Romance Books.  Thank gawd I have a Kindle. The covers of these books would just kill me.  Seriously, until Shades of Grey, I could count on one hand the number of books I have read...EVER. So now that I have come out of the closet or at least from out behind the Kindle, let me pass on what I have been reading. 

Don't judge. 

Yes, I know. 

You're right.

Mom, quit reading right now.

1. The Shades of Grey Trilogy by EL James. Still my favorite.

Where the obsession started. Still my favorite. 5/5 stars.

2. Bared to You by Sylvia Day

This is similar to Shades of Grey character wise. Fast paced with a weak plot but it works for me. I don't remember the language in this book or if the sex scenes became monotonous. I just remember it being a great beach read that kept my attention. I recommend it. 4/5 stars.

3. Hearts in Darkness by Laura Kaye

Loved this book. It felt short and I turned the pages extremely fast. The entire book basically takes place in an elevator. 5/5 stars.

4. Knight by Kristen Ashley

This book was a little crud for my taste. I guess I like my porn softer. It was still a quick read with a happy ending. 3.5/5 stars.

5. Love Unscripted by Tina Reber

I did not finish this book. For whatever reason it is dragging on and on. I keep thinking I will go back to it and finish it but I am "over it" for now.

6. Unleashed by Cherrie Lynn

Not bad. Another fast read. I like my books to end happy and to have realistic elements and characters. I would recommend this for a great beach read. 4/5 stars

7. Surrender to Me by Shayla Black

8. Wicked Ties by Shayla Black

9. Delicious by Shayla Black

10. Belong to Me by Shayla Black

11. Mine to Hold by Shayla Black**preorder for June 5th release

I lumped all these together. I am totally into these novels by Shayla Black. I believe I read one book a night. This author has written a lot but these are the only ones I am interested in. They are borderline crud and make me blush. Surely this stuff does not go on in real life??!! All the books follow a group of Navy Seal type guys and their love interests. The author lives in Texas, so there are several Texas references that I enjoy. 4.5/5 or a real close 5/5. I'm taking a little off a perfect score because I find myself skipping over some of the sex. The women in these books never talk about chafing. Come 'on, it has to happen.

11. On the Island by Tracey Garvis-Graves

Currently reading now. A great page turner. Very soft in the sex department. No rating yet.

There you go. You can either pray for me or thank me (maybe do a little of both). 

So, what are you reading these days?

~XOXO~
beachbrights

Wednesday's Book Review Party and Amazon G'way

<a href="http://cymlowell.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="CymLowell" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2442/3960797566_f11cfb2f41_o.jpg" /></a>

Welcome to Book Review Party Wednesday.

It is real simple. Link up any (old or new, any genre) book review that you have
written to the below MckLinky.

A couple of things to remember while you're linking.

1. Add a permalink to your specific post, not the main page of your blog (only one review per blog).
2. Add my Book Review Wednesday Badge or a link-back to the party at the end of your review post.
3. List the name of your blog, Title of Book or Genre. Be sure to use spaces and limit characters to 50. For example: The Lost Symbol, thriller

4. Become a follower of my blog, pretty please (not mandatory).
5. Visit the other linked up reviews and leave comments....it's a party, have fun!
6. I will announce the winner in a weekend post. The winner is chosen from the linked up reviewers using Random Number Generator. All included.

I am so excited to be reading all the reviews! This is always so much fun and gives me the opportunity to add new books to my list.

-CYM

Defensive Wounds by Lisa Black *Book Review*

Defensive Wounds 

by Lisa Black 

Wm Morrow 2011

What would you do if you learned that your teenage daughter was falling in love with a young man working in the same hotel who appears to have murdered a girl in his own living room?

Would your anxiety be high if you were a forensic expert working for the local police department?

And how about if the three lawyers who represented the boy in gaining a questionable acquittal are grotesquely murdered in the same hotel, where a lawyer convention was underway?  Not surprisingly, the local police focus on the murders is intense, and you are in the middle of it.  

In such a situation, the tension with your ethical and parental emotions and responsibilities pull you in opposite directions.  The tension would be heightened even more if you were attracted to a fellow police officer, who seems to have some unfathomnable connection to the case.

If any of us were the protagonist in this story, we would be stretched as on a rack trying to find a path through the briar patch.

Defensive Wounds is an enjoyable story.  Its detailed exploration of the mysteries revealed by the forensic process required to find the actual killer from amongst the hairs and other detritus of life is fascinating, creating a mystery within a mystery.

There are also two love stories sewn into the fabric of this fine story., which only adds to the mysteries to be unraveled.

If you enjoy the inner-twining of murder, love, a bit of sexual tension, parental responsibility, and forensic science, you will love Defensive Wounds .

Warms, Cym

AMAZON

Author Spotlight: Stuart Meczes

‘DILECTI SURGEMUS - SOCII POLLEMUS’ 

Chosen we rise - Allied we prevail 

Alexander Eden is one unhappy teenager. A geeky, social pariah, he's the victim of constant bullying at school. His home life isn't much better with a stepfather who resents him and a half brother who is better than him at everything. 

But that all changes the day the mysterious and beautiful Gabriella De Luca walks into his life. Everyone wants to know her, to be with her. But she is interested in Alex.

Because Alex is different. 

Soon afterwards he is thrown into a world he never thought possible. A world where he and others like him are the last line of defence. A world where an ancient unspeakable evil lurks.

Evil which seeks to consume him.

THE AWAKENING will have you laughing, crying and your adrenaline pounding in excitement!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What's being said about The Awakening

“The characters are fleshy and well developed, dialogue is tight and after the opening build up the story thumps along at a terrific rate, throwing you right into the imaginative world the author has clearly spent some time developing. I can see where the Twilight references are coming from but I really feel this book offers something new, if it catches on, this book will be huge. Can't wait for the second chapter!” 

 “The Awakening has an electrifying story with exciting depths and textures that grab the imagination, that thrill with the emotions and interactions of the characters. I would highly recommend this. Unputdownable.”  

“A new author to rival "Koontz and King" fantastic fast paced read! I cannot wait for the second instalment. The World Stuart creates is epic and unique, full of wonder and characters that leap from each turn of the page. This is, I hope, the start of a long and prosperous career for Mr Meczes.”  

“All in all I laughed, I cried, I raced through the scenes in suspense. What more can you ask for? Highly recommended and looking forward to the next ones in the series!”

"This story deserves 5 stars because I couldn't put it down."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About Stuart Meczes

Stuart Meczes was born in South London, but now spends his time between Worcester and Birmingham. Obsessed with writing stories from a very young age, everyday life made him slowly forget about his dream and enter the rat race. He rediscovered his passion during the economic decline of 2008, when he began work on The Awakening in his spare time. There was no going back. He is currently taking a degree in English and Creative Writing at the University of Birmingham.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Resource Links

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon

FeedARead

Twitter

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you Stuart for being this week's Author Spotlight.
-CYM

Spotlights from Around the Web ~ Book Style!

1.  Amazon Reviews have as much Weight as Professional Critics, says New Study.

2. Literary Drinks: 10 Famous Fiction Writers and Their Cocktails

3. Hostess With the Mostess: Cute & Clever Children's Book Theme Baby Shower

4.  Knob Creek Metal Arts: Fire Hydrant Bookends

Have a great day & check back tomorrow for this week's Author Spotlight!

~CYM~

Wednesday's Book Review Party and Amazon G'way

<a href="http://cymlowell.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="CymLowell" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2442/3960797566_f11cfb2f41_o.jpg" /></a>

Welcome to Book Review Party Wednesday.

It is real simple. Link up any (old or new, any genre) book review that you have
written to the below MckLinky.

A couple of things to remember while you're linking.

1. Add a permalink to your specific post, not the main page of your blog (only one review per blog).
2. Add my Book Review Wednesday Badge or a link-back to the party at the end of your review post.
3. List the name of your blog, Title of Book or Genre. Be sure to use spaces and limit characters to 50. For example: The Lost Symbol, thriller

4. Become a follower of my blog, pretty please (not mandatory).
5. Visit the other linked up reviews and leave comments....it's a party, have fun!
6. I will announce the winner in a weekend post. The winner is chosen from the linked up reviewers using Random Number Generator. All included.

I am so excited to be reading all the reviews! This is always so much fun and gives me the opportunity to add new books to my list.

-CYM

The Immortalists by Kyle Mills *Book Review*

The Immortalists
by Kyle Mills
Thomas & Mercer 2011

Do you have an incurable disease? Does a child or loved one? Aging is such a disease. So we all have an incurable scourge growing within ourselves.

Do you also have unlimited funds? If not, do you have world class research skills and an insight of how to cure such a disease?

These are the elements of this thoroughly enjoyable story by Kyle Mills. In this case, Richard’s only daughter, Susie, is aging rapidly and will shortly die. He is a skilled researcher seeking a remedy, relying on funding that seems to be tightly controlled.

He learns of research done by a famed scientist who disappeared long ago. The source of the information dies mysteriously. He begins asking questions which reach the ears of deep-pocketed old men desperately trying to find the elixir to extend their own lives.

The chase begins when Richard and his wife Carly must disappear and hide their daughter. Who can they trust? Through many countries they flee, as the custodian of the daughter embarks upon his own quest to hide from the armies seeking Susie.

Mills draws us into a story full of parental love and desperation. Can a researcher and a housewife outwit the hordes of their protagonists? Can they devise a strategy to level the playing field with the adversaries? Richard decides to walk into the lair of the bad guys, hoping to find a way to turn the cure that has indeed evolved to save Susie.

The Immortalists is a thoroughly enjoyable experience. The issues framed by the story are as thought-provoking as Richard, Carly, and Susie are engaging. You will find yourself immersed in their obviously impossible quest.

In the end, you will ask yourself some very interesting questions. Is it possible for you to extend your own life?

Kyle Mills is a talented storyteller. There will be more great reads coming from his word processor, I hope.

Warms, Cym

AMAZON

Winner of Wednesday's Book Review Party

*all winners are selected by Random Number Generator *

And the winner of the Amazon Gift Card ($15 value) from Wednesday's Review Party is...

(**Drums Rolling in the Background**)

Congratulations to A Bluestocking's Place!


Be sure to check out A Bluestocking's Place and leave a comment!


Send me your email address for the Amazon eGC.

Warms-
CYM

Author Spotlight: Estevan Vega {The Forsaken}

 

Synopsis:

DON'T LET IT IN.

The first victim has no natural wounds. No prints left behind. No lacerations. But the life has been gruesomely drained from the corpse, and a broken cross is now imprinted inside the skin.

Left for dead a year ago by his former partner, reckless and medicated Detective Jude Foster now endures mindless therapy sessions in order to be given another chance at his life.When the chief of police discovers the first victim strangely killed in this sadistic fashion, Jude enters a dark world all-too-familiar. He knows he’s seen this method of murder before, but he never caught the killer.

Could this be a copycat, or is it the one that got away?

Forced to take on a new partner for the case, Jude must come to terms with the fractured memories of his past, attempt to keep his younger brother safe, and chase down a ghost killer who is collecting human souls. But time is against him. How many more victims will there be before the killer is satisfied? And will Jude Foster be able to survive this new hell or in the chaos, will he risk becoming something else entirely?

Resource Links:
Amazon
Facebook
Twitter
EstevanVega

Thank you Estevan for being this weeks Author Spotlight. If you are a book reviewer, please contact Estevan for review copies.

-CYM

The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester *Book Review*

The Professor and the Madman 

by Simon Winchester 

Harper Perennial 1998

Have you looked at the Oxford English Dictionary lately?  It is a massive volume, originally published in the 1880s and 1890s in many volumes.  It required the work of a small army of philologists who mined words from ancient and then current manuscripts, which work was coordinated by a group of experts at Oxford.

Most of us probably do not consult the heavy tome of a dictionary often.  Rather, if there is something we want to look-up, we go to Google or Wikipedia.  These modern conventions, in essence, provide an electronic or digital means of finding information.

Each of us also has a full range of data, files, and so on to organize in our business and personal lives.  I am frequently amazed at how difficult it is to devise and maintain a filing system where I can put my little hands on what is needed without chaos blowing into my life like a tornado.

The Professor and the Madman is a story about the process of preparation of the Oxford English Dictionary at a time when everything had to be done by hand and slips of paper, which amounted to hundreds of thousands of pages!  “The Professor” is James Murray who ended up at Oxford.  

“The Madman” is Dr. W. C. Minor, an American who had been a Civil War battlefield surgeon who immigrated to London.  Dr. Minor had an attic full of demons in his mind, who he imagined to be constantly on the warpath against him.  He believed that the demons assaulted him in the night, stole him away to be used for all manner of sexual perversions, and damaged his library.  In one fit of imagination, he spied a demon was in his bedroom, grabbed a gun, chased the demon outside, and shot him dead.  Unfortunately, the dead man was the father of many children on his way to work.  Dr. Minor was then incarcerated in an insane asylum for the remainder of his life.

He had a prodigious library in the asylum (a whole different story) and learned of the dictionary project and became one of the principal authors of the work.

This is phenomenally engaging story all by itself.  It is mind-numbing to me to imagine the mental gymnastics and perseverance required to assemble the data, both by Dr. Minor and the team of Professor Murray.  The wiring of Simon Winchester flows smoothly.

I was fascinated by thinking how I could extract from this description a means of organizing my own life and materials.

While you find it odd, even humorous, to think of reading about the Oxford English Dictionary, you will actually find this to be a thoroughly mind-opening process.

Warms, Cym

Resource Links:
AMAZON
Reading Guide Questions

Book Review Party Wednesday and Amazon G'way - LIVE!

<a href="http://cymlowell.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="CymLowell" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2442/3960797566_f11cfb2f41_o.jpg" /></a>

Welcome to Book Review Party Wednesday.

It is real simple. Link up any (old or new, any genre) book review that you have
written to the below MckLinky.

A couple of things to remember while you're linking.

1. Add a permalink to your specific post, not the main page of your blog (only one review per blog).
2. Add my Book Review Wednesday Badge or a link-back to the party at the end of your review post.
3. List the name of your blog, Title of Book or Genre. Be sure to use spaces and limit characters to 50. For example: The Lost Symbol, thriller

4. Become a follower of my blog, pretty please (not mandatory).
5. Visit the other linked up reviews and leave comments....it's a party, have fun!
6. I will announce the winner in a weekend post. The winner is chosen from the linked up reviewers using Random Number Generator. All included.

I am so excited to be reading all the reviews! This is always so much fun and gives me the opportunity to add new books to my list.

-CYM

Winner of Wednesday's Book Review Party

*all winners are selected by Random Number Generator *

And the winner of the Amazon Gift Card ($15 value) from Wednesday's Review Party is...

(**Drums Rolling in the Background**)

Congratulations to Reviews By Martha's Bookshelf!



Be sure to check out Reviews By Martha's Bookshelf and leave a comment!


Send me your email address for the Amazon eGC.

Warms-
CYM

Author Spotlight: Jackie Townsend

Reel Life: A Novel
by Jackie Townsend
Ripetta Press

Two sisters on the verge escape to the movies.

Sisters are meant to always be there for each other, or are they? In the glare of reality, clashing views and acts of betrayal can work to form unbridgeable gaps, and the fabric of sisterly love must be delicately rewoven from whole cloth. Reel Life charts the story of redheaded sisters Betty and Jamie, who must call upon the past to forge a new and meaningful connection for the future. With iconic moments of contemporary cinema driving the narrative thread, this absorbing work will cut straight to the heart and reveal the intricate, complex emotions that come together to form a family. Exploring themes of motherhood, body image, ambition and love, this tender, deeply affecting tale of two sisters offers a poignant close-up of this most intimate of relationships, which can both haunt and heal. Surging with drama that is interlaced with subtle irony, Reel Life illuminates how, sometimes, escaping reality can be the clearest path to emotional truth.

Author Bio:

Jackie Townsend, a native of southern California, spends a lot of time in places not her own. As the youngest of four siblings she carries with her a strong sense of family to these places, often foreign, and writes about belonging (or not belonging), loss, and love. She lives in New York with her husband. Reel Life is her first book.

The idea for Reel Life came to the author upon leaving a theater with her sister one evening years ago. Something was different, as if the universe had been slightly altered. Perhaps they disagreed about the film later, over drinks, or laughed about it, she doesn't remember. Just the thought, leaving the bar, that if you could piece together all the movies the sisters had ever seen together, you could write the story of their lives.

You can visit her website, www.jackietownsend.com, to learn more about the author, read a chapter, or visit her Reel Blog, where she delves deeper into this notion of how movies and the movie going experience can impact our personal relationships.



Links: 

Amazon
Facebook
Twitter

Thank you Jackie for being this week's Author Spotlight!

-CYM

Book Spotlights from Around the Web

| Guest Post |

from

Beachbrights

1. Advengers Bookmark craft from Crafts by Amanda.

2. So you want to publish a cookbook by Justcook NYC.

3. Where all my free time is going...A Whole Lot of Nothing. Let me know if you want me to recommend any books on her list ;)

4. Word to the wise...Thanks Ernest Hemingway. {source}

Have a great week/weekend-

XOXO

Book Review Party Wednesday

<a href="http://cymlowell.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="CymLowell" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2442/3960797566_f11cfb2f41_o.jpg" /></a>

Welcome to Book Review Party Wednesday.

It is real simple. Link up any (old or new, any genre) book review that you have
written to the below MckLinky.

A couple of things to remember while you're linking.

1. Add a permalink to your specific post, not the main page of your blog (only one review per blog).
2. Add my Book Review Wednesday Badge or a link-back to the party at the end of your review post.
3. List the name of your blog, Title of Book or Genre. Be sure to use spaces and limit characters to 50. For example: The Lost Symbol, thriller

4. Become a follower of my blog, pretty please (not mandatory).
5. Visit the other linked up reviews and leave comments....it's a party, have fun!
6. I will announce the winner in a weekend post. The winner is chosen from the linked up reviewers using Random Number Generator. All included.

I am so excited to be reading all the reviews! This is always so much fun and gives me the opportunity to add new books to my list.

-CYM

The Glass Case: A Short Story
by Kristin Hannah
St. Martin’s Press 1998

What were your dreams when you were young? Have you achieved them? Do you still think about them? How did they evolve over the years?

In The Glass Case, we are treated to a wonderful heart-warming story that resonates in the life of each of us. We had dreams as children, of being an athlete, astronaut, scientist, video game character, or whatever. At some point in our lives, reality came home. Perhaps, we did things that cut off the dreams. Bad decisions, dumb actions, or simply the appearance of reality.

April is a teenager, whose mother sought to instill dreams in her young daughter. In a small town, there are limited ranges of things to do. April falls in love with the star high school quarterback, who has his own dreams of the Super Bowl. When Ryan and April tell her mother the news of her pregnancy at 17, the response reflects the feeling that parents have when their own dreams for their children hit the wall. “Oh, April . . . I wanted so much for you.” April’s dreams of a beautiful wedding with bridesmaids in attendance were shattered when her mother was diagnosed with cancer and died within two months, never meeting her grandson.

This touching story explores April’s feelings about herself, a late twenties woman with three children and a husband, Ryan, who works at Wal-Mart and has full health benefits, living in a house that was manufactured somewhere. “As I approach my third decade of life, I feel vaguely unformed, a work in progress,” she ruminates. “I had three babies in five years. The first and second were accidents, and after that, I figured What the hell? My boobs already looked like air-to-ground missiles . . . .”

One day, her young son Brad is not on the bus when it comes to the drop-off stop. April and the dog wait. No Brad. She races to the school, no Brad. The police search the town, no Brad. Ryan comes home, holding April with full confidence of finding the boy. Desperation rolls in like a storm. All the dreams of life mean so little, when your baby is in danger.

As darkness descends and a light rain deepens the gloom, April looks up. Brad stands on the corner in the rain. He followed a cow and missed the bus. A nice lady brought him home. She did not want to meet Brad’s mom. Instead, she gave him a small pottery heart, like the one April had made as a child. It even had the same thumb print from so long ago. “What did the lady say?” April asks. Tell your mom that “I got to hold your hand.”

April understood that her mom’s dream had come true. And her own.

Kristin Hannah has a wonderful knack for touching the humanity and reality of us all. Download The Glass Case and think about your own dreams. What is real in me?

Warms, Cym

AMAZON
Kristin Hannah Blog

Winner of Wednesday's Book Review Party and Spotlight

*all winners are selected by Random Number Generator *

And the winner of the Amazon Gift Card ($15 value) from Wednesday's Review Party is...

(**Drums Rolling in the Background**)

Congratulations to Create With Joy!



Be sure to check out Create With Joy and leave a comment!


Send me your email address for the Amazon eGC.

Warms-
CYM

Author Spotlight: Daniel McNeet

 

Operation Downfall Synopsis:


A courageous and cathartic narrative, Operation Downfall, mirrors the political landscape that has become both acceptable and repulsive to a country that prides itself on freedom and democracy. Novelist Daniel McNeet has written a taunting-political thriller which serves as a literary fable for a country in search of its self-identity and moral sense.


Stunning, vibrant and veracious attorney, Mariah O’Leary, is going to do what most people only dream about — expose the amoral corrupticians and their political machinery deep within the White House. She uncovers their unprincipled scheme to create a series of events which will justify the launching of an illegal war. A complex web of relationships between the president, vice president and their investors place the American people in heightened jeopardy. Mariah’s investigation uncovers a “War Plan” which poisons thousands of American citizens and blames a Middle East country for the terrorist attack. 

Daniel McNeet Biography:

Daniel McNeet is the author of Operation Downfall, a political thriller. He retired from a successful career, uses his experiences to expose what he considers to be the important things in life — a lack of moral sense, corruption in politics, injustice and the intolerance in our society. He is trying to the best of his ability to make a contribution to the betterment of our society. He definitely does not stand by waiting for someone else to make a difference.

Resource Links:
iBook
Amazon
Nook Book



DanielMcNeet.com
Facebook
Twitter

Thank you Daniel for being this week's Author Spotlight!

CYM

Scholastic Summer Challenge - Keep Everyone Reading!

From our good friends at Scholastic...Thank you Nadia!!

GET READY TO SET A NEW SCHOLASTIC WORLD RECORD FOR SUMMER READING 

The Scholastic Summer Challenge Invites Kids to Keep Reading this Summer by Logging Reading Minutes to Win Virtual Rewards 

New York, NY–May 1, 2012– While athletes prepare for the 2012 Summer Olympics, kids will compete in their own challenge – the Scholastic Summer Challenge - a free, interactive reading program dedicated to helping kids keep their reading skills sharp throughout the summer by reading every day. Kids everywhere will Read for the World Record by logging the minutes they spend reading this summer and attempting to beat the current world record of 64,213,141 minutes set during summer 2011. The 20 schools whose students log the most minutes will be recognized in the 2013 Scholastic Book of World Records. The Scholastic Summer Challenge kicks-off today at www.scholastic.com/summer and runs through August 31, 2012.

“Just like the world’s greatest athletes, children need to keep their skills sharp and reading is like any other skill - it needs to be practiced,” said Francie Alexander, Chief Academic Officer at Scholastic. “Without this practice, children find themselves falling down the “Summer Slide,” and that is not the fun slide at the park, but rather the loss of critical learning and reading skills caused by not reading books over the summer.” Francie continued, “The proven way to get kids reading is to put them in charge of their own reading – let them choose the books they want to read, when they want to read, and how they want to read – whether in print or digitally. It is the win-win summer reading solution.”

SUMMER READING FOR KIDS: The Summer Challenge motivates kids with weekly challenges, fun sweepstakes, virtual rewards, book chats and friendly competition. Starting today, kids can log their reading minutes, track their reading stats, and their school’s rank, collect virtual rewards in their ‘prize center’ and enter sweepstakes for the chance to win free books. For the third year in a row, WORDGIRL™ , from the Emmy Award winning television series airing on PBS KIDS GO!, is serving as the national “Ambassador of Summer Reading” to help encourage kids to practice reading in order to have a better vocabulary.

To reach even more young readers this summer, the Scholastic Summer Challenge is teaming up with the American Camp Association’s® Explore 30 initiative that encourages campers to read 30 minutes every day. Campers nationwide will be logging their reading minutes to help break the world record.

SUMMER READING FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS: The Summer Challenge website is also the go-to summer resource for parents and teachers. Through the site, teachers can sign up their class, track their students’ reading progress and access free helpful tools including printable reading logs and reading certificates. Plus, parents can sign up to receive email alerts on their child’s reading achievements, access summer book lists compiled by Scholastic experts, and discover ways to use the Summer Challenge at home with the Family Participation Guide created in collaboration with nonprofit partner Reach Out and Read, an organization that prepares America's youngest children to succeed in school by partnering with doctors to prescribe books and encourage families to read together.

For the second year, Scholastic is teaming up with iVillage and PBS KIDS to promote the importance of summer reading to families nationwide through Summer Reading Parties hosted by 80 bloggers across the country. Bloggers will receive Summer Reading Kits including books, activities, bookmarks and more to celebrate summer reading in their communities, on iVillage.com and through their blogs.

SUMMER READING AMBASSADORS Joining Scholastic to support summer reading will be dozens of the nation’s Governors’ spouses who will be hosting summer reading events at schools in their home states. The names of all of the 2012 Summer Reading Ambassadors will be announced soon.

For more information about the Scholastic Summer Challenge, please visit: http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/SummerChallenge 

About Scholastic Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHL) is the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books and a leader in educational technology and services and children’s media. Scholastic creates quality educational and entertaining materials and products for use in school and at home, including children's books, magazines, technology-based products, teacher materials, television programming, film, videos and toys. The Company distributes its products and services through a variety of channels, including proprietary school-based book clubs and school-based book fairs, retail stores, schools, libraries, television networks and the Company’s Internet Site, www.scholastic.com.

 # # #

CYM

Book Review Party Wednesday - LIVE!

<a href="http://cymlowell.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="CymLowell" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2442/3960797566_f11cfb2f41_o.jpg" /></a>

Welcome to Book Review Party Wednesday.

It is real simple. Link up any (old or new, any genre) book review that you have
written to the below MckLinky.

A couple of things to remember while you're linking.

1. Add a permalink to your specific post, not the main page of your blog (only one review per blog).
2. Add my Book Review Wednesday Badge or a link-back to the party at the end of your review post.
3. List the name of your blog, Title of Book or Genre. Be sure to use spaces and limit characters to 50. For example: The Lost Symbol, thriller

4. Become a follower of my blog, pretty please (not mandatory).
5. Visit the other linked up reviews and leave comments....it's a party, have fun!
6. I will announce the winner in a weekend post. The winner is chosen from the linked up reviewers using Random Number Generator. All included.

I am so excited to be reading all the reviews! This is always so much fun and gives me the opportunity to add new books to my list.

-CYM