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Guest Post & Giveaway: Bruce Littlefield’s Writing Space

Normally, I’m not a children’s book reviewer, but there are those occasions when a kid’s book will grab my attention, especially if it has a good message and includes dogs.  I’m a sucker for a good dog book; must be the dog owner in me.

I recently read and reviewed Bruce Littlefield’s The Bedtime Book for Dogs, which he wasn’t kidding when he titled it because dogs do understand the book and will often beg for treats or a trip outside if you are reading it to your little one.  Wiggles and I have read this book a number of times, and she loves the colorful illustrations by Paul S. Heath.  Check out my review if you missed it.

Today, however, we have a special treat . . . a glimpse into the writing space of Bruce Littlefield:

My summer writing perch is on my front porch swing with the Esopus Creek running behind me.  Growing up in South Carolina, my grandparents had a huge southern porch.  I’d sit out there with my notebook and sip her sweet ice tea and dream up my stories. Edgewater Farm, my house in the Catskills of NY, used to be a bungalow colony (think Dirty Dancing) and I like to write here.  It’s got a lot of creative vibe.

Thanks, Bruce, for sharing your writing space with us and let’s hope it continues to inspire you.

Now for the giveaway:  I have 1 copy of the book for a US/Canada winner.

1.  Leave a comment on this post about your favorite children’s book you remember reading or that you’ve read to your child.

2.  Spread the word about the giveaway via Twitter, Facebook, etc., and leave a link for a second entry.

Deadline is June 20, 2011, 11:59PM EST

The Decadent Lovely by Amy Pence

The Decadent Lovely by Amy Pence, published by Main Street Rag, is a collection lush in mystery as it is in setting and pulsating with dramatic domesticity.  Broken into seven parts, Pence begins the collection with the “ugly and the ordinary” and moves to the end of the collection with the infinitesimal.  Her images call attention to the darkness of the narrator’s family as they witness the drunken stupors, like in “Landing Space, 1970” (page 5-6), “Cutting too:/the eyes of the sunflowers/the swell of them, pulpy,/like my stepfather’s,/roused too soon//from an alcoholic stupor/for the graveyard shift.  Was it too much/what they saw or not enough? . . . ”

Like the pleasant and the darker aspects of the family, Pence juxtaposes the landscape of New Orleans to that of Las Vegas, with the darker elements of family life up in neon lights.  But there is darkness in New Orleans, a past that cannot be escaped and a past that can be touched only through the voodoo of memory and self-assessment.  In “The Waiting Room” (page 40), “Maybe/she’ll talk of a version of her self/decades before the cancer:  the Rose Bowl court in the 50s/or her years in New Orleans, to relate, she’d say/to the woman waiting.  In that/hazy B&W film, my mother/was one of the Golddust Twins,/the flashier one, running headlong out of Ohio, constantly/misunderstood by husbands, children, lovers./Maybe the black woman would begin/to resent my mother as most did, would/see her as merely another shipwreck in Vegas,/unmade by her own addictions.  . . . ”  Readers will find the new perspective on these mundane scenes fresh and captivating, as the narrator reveals the truth behind the surface interactions of women in a waiting room.  Pence has a number of these moments in her poems.  However, there are poems that will require more time, reading them several times and greater reflection for each image and line — a process that could bog down some new readers of poetry.  That being said, the collection is worth the effort.

Put Muse Here (page 22)

Dalí renders Dante’s Beatrice with
his beloved’s form, face obscured. Uses

grisaille, a netting & rivulet to dress her
ginger-crisp: a locust shell split. Then

there’s me: putting another face where the Dark
should be, like dreaming (an Emma Bovary),

of punctuation. The colon: two face one-upon-
one, the lock in the door, a figment well-oiled.

In the slash / my avarice: cut (an Emily Brontë)
window across which I rub my wrist.

Then there’s the period — the body’s
rush to an ending. The Thee (an Emily Dickinson)

through which the self moves —
finds the mouth, fills the face, enters in.

Sometimes cryptic, sometimes plain spoken, Pence crafts an inside look at family (those are her parents on the cover) and the happy dysfunction that can occur and often does.  Beyond that, she draws parallels between that dysfunction and the human condition, which we often attempt to control and fail to control.  The Decadent Lovely is a self indulgence worth wallowing in, if not to examine one’s own life but to understand that humans tend to be self-indulgent even though they espouse the shedding of ego.

 

This is my 15th book for the Fearless Poetry Exploration Reading Challenge.

 

This is my 23rd book for the 2011 New Authors Reading Challenge.

The Bedtime Book for Dogs by Bruce Littlefield

The Bedtime Book for Dogs by Bruce Littlefield, published by Hachette Book Group in June 2011, is chock full of large, colorful illustrations that even catches the eyes of infants.  My daughter is only 3 months old and she was drawn into the book by the illustrations of the dog and the park with its bright greens and browns.  The story is short and sweet, which would make it easy to read for those learning and those wanting to read on their own.  Littlefield’s story is one about friendship — a companionship that dogs even have with their owners — and sharing.

Dogs will even love the story as well, with their ears perking up at familiar terms like “out” and “treat,” but be careful because readers may find that they’ll have to give them an actual treat or actually take them out!

The only drawback is that some of the text gets lost in the images, particularly the busy image of the inside of the house with its dog bone wallpaper.  But even that does not occur most often — it’s just on a few pages.  What’s great about the narration is that many of the words are written in large type, making them easy to recognize.

Readers will love how the story speaks to the listener — whether its a dog or a child — telling them to “sit” and “lie down” to listen to the story.  Its a good way to get them ready for bed.  The story is short, however, which means it could take several readings before a child will actually fall asleep, but that’s typical with any bedtime story.  The Bedtime Book for Dogs by Bruce Littlefield and illustrated by Paul S. Heath is a cute book that readers won’t mind reading again and again, as some of the lines rhyme like poetry, making the flow easy to remember.  It’s a colorful, happy story that should be added to any child’s shelf.

This is my 22nd book for the 2011 New Authors Reading Challenge.

Horoscopes for the Dead by Billy Collins

Horoscopes for the Dead by Billy Collins, published in 2011 by Random House, is broken into four sections and includes a quote at the beginning from Alan Bennett‘s The Uncommon Reader, “It was the kind of library he had only read about in books.”

Collins’ mater-of-fact tone in these poems treats death and loss as an inevitability, which it is, but at the same time there is a reverence for the dead, dying, and living.  In terms of Bennett’s quote at the beginning, Collins’ phenomenal library is the library of life — the spinning of the dog as it lays down and its movement from one spot to another or the moments in marriage or shopping for a mattress.

From Thieves (page 16-7), “for I was a fellow thief/having stolen for myself this hour, lifting the wedge of it from my daily clock/so I could walk up a wooded hillside/and sit for a while on a rock the size of a car.//” or from Simple Arithmetic (page 32-3), “and gone are my notebook and my pencil/and there I go, too,/erased by my own eraser and blown like shavings off the page.//”, Collins demonstrates the fleeting nature of our time here, how it is borrowed, and how we must make the best of it before it is gone.

Collins’ poetry is accessible as he creates stories and narrations to engage the reader and teach them what he sees.  Like a horoscope, each poem sketches a future, but like horoscopes, the power to make them true or to change them lies in the person meant to live them.  In The Chairs That No One Sits In (page 49-50), “You see them on porches and on lawns/down by the lakeside/usually arranged in pairs implying a couple// . . . It may not be any of my business,/but let us suppose one day/that everyone who placed those vacant chairs//on a veranda or a dock sat down in them/if only for the sake of remembering/what it was they thought deserved//to be viewed from two chairs,/side by side with a table in between./The clouds are high and massive on that day.//”.

The Straightener (page 5-6)

Even as a boy I was a straightener.
On a long table near my window
I kept a lantern, a spyglass, and my tomahawk.

Never tomahawk, lantern, and spyglass.
Always lantern, spyglass, tomahawk.

You could never tell when you would need them,
but that was the order you would need them in.

On my desk: pencils at attention in a cup,
foreign coins stacked by size,

a photograph of my parents,
and under the heavy green blotter,
a note from a girl I was fond of.

These days I like to stack in pyramids
the cans of soup in the pantry
and I keep the white candles in rows like logs of wax.

And if I can avoid doing my taxes
or phoning my talkative aunt
on her eighty-something birthday,

I will use a ruler to measure the space
between the comb and brush on the dresser,
the distance between shakers of salt and pepper.

Today, for example, I will devote my time
to lining up my shoes in the closet,
pair by pair in chronological order

and lining up my shirts on the rack by color
to put off having to tell you, dear,
what I really think and what I now am bound to do.

There are quite a few references to Dante’s The Divine Comedy in these poems, reflecting the journey through hell, purgatory, and paradise.  There are slivers of light from paradise and there are moments of fiery hell, but most of these poems live in the present or the past, examining with understanding, reverence, and sometimes regret that the actions we take in this life cannot be undone.  But Collins also touches upon the tightrope we must walk in relationships with our loved ones.

Overall, Horoscopes for the Dead by Billy Collins is a collection of reflections and predictions for the future, but beyond the attention paid to larger concerns of life, Collins reflects on the smaller moments in time and the joys, frustration, and satisfaction they bring.  A fascinating look at everyday life that makes each moment extraordinary, and a collection that should be added to every library.

 

This is my 14th book for the Fearless Poetry Exploration Reading Challenge.

 

This is my 13th book for the 2011 Wish I’d Read That Challenge.  I’ve wanted to read this since I learned Collins would have a new book this year.

Mailbox Monday #129

Mailbox Mondays (click the icon at the right to check out the new blog) has gone on tour since Marcia at A Girl and Her Books, formerly The Printed Page passed the torch.  This month our host is Mari of MariReads.  Kristi of The Story Siren continues to sponsor her In My Mailbox meme.  Both of these memes allow bloggers to share what books they receive in the mail or through other means over the past week.

Just be warned that these posts can increase your TBR piles and wish lists.

Here’s what I received this week:

1.  The Astral by Kate Christensen, randomly from Random House.

2.  The Girl in the Garden by Kamala Nair for a TLC Book Tour.

3.  10th Anniversary by James Patterson borrowed from my mom.

4. War & Watermelon by Rich Wallace for a June TLC Book Tour.

What did you receive in your mailbox?

99th Virtual Poetry Circle

Welcome to the 99th Virtual Poetry Circle!

We’re getting down to the 100th Virtual Poetry Circle and it is likely to coincide with my 4th blogiversary next month, so I’m soliciting suggestions for a grand giveaway.

Please leave your suggestions along with your impressions of today’s poem in the comments.

Remember, this is just for fun and is not meant to be stressful.

Keep in mind what Molly Peacock’s books suggested. Look at a line, a stanza, sentences, and images; describe what you like or don’t like; and offer an opinion. If you missed my review of her book, check it out here.

Also, sign up for the 2011 Fearless Poetry Reading Challenge because its simple; you only need to read 1 book of poetry.  Please contribute to the growing list of 2011 Indie Lit Award Poetry Suggestions, visit the stops on the National Poetry Month Blog Tour from April.

You may have missed my Facebook and Twitter posts about the latest poetry discovery.  But today’s poem from E.E. Cummings is that poem recently discovered among some archived letters of The Dial.  I’m providing a snippet of the poem here, but to read the full poem, click on the link above.

(tonite
in nigger
street

the snow is perfectly falling,

the noiselessly snow is
sexually fingering the utterly asleep

houses)

Let me know your thoughts, ideas, feelings, impressions. Let’s have a great discussion…pick a line, pick an image, pick a sentence.

I’ve you missed the other Virtual Poetry Circles. It’s never too late to join the discussion.

Armchair BEA: Blogging about Savvy Verse & Wit

Armchair BEA has followed many of the activities from Book Expo America in New York City, including the expo floor, panel discussions, what book bloggers are finding in terms of ARCs, and interviewing authors and others.

Today, with the Book Blogger Convention (please check out the agenda), the organizers of Armchair BEA asked for participants to think about their blogs and blogging.

I’m taking my queue from the Armchair BEA blogger interviews earlier in the week, in which some bloggers touched upon the dos and don’ts of blogging and gaining “followers.”

I’m not big on just gaining followers, BUT I am interested in gaining readers.  Whether all my readers comment or not, I know you’re still reading and if you’re reading, you must be getting something from my posts.

I struggled for a long time about whether poetry should continue to be a focus on the blog because the posts rarely received comments and as a fledgling blog, it had very few readers.  However, after discussing possible alternatives and focuses with myself and Anna, I came to the conclusion that poetry is my passion.  Even if the blog had one comment (Anna!), it was out there on the Internet and could be found through a quick search of keywords.  While the post may not receive immediate responses, readers will find the post eventually.

In that vein, some characteristics I think you should have in order to have a successful blog include passion, determination, and patience.  Without these, blogging will be a fad . . . a fleeting moment in time for you.  Moreover, it will be a frustrating endeavor as you watch your stats, chomping at the bit for new “followers” and screaming “why” when some “followers” disappear.

Blogging is a learning process, and I’m just now learning the life-blogging balance as a new mother.  When we didn’t have a child, it was easier to take up the computer and start blogging away, but now there are feedings every three hours, diapers to change, and crankiness to alleviate.

I wouldn’t trade my daughter, “Wiggles,” for anything in the world, but it does make it more difficult to find time to read, write reviews, comment on blogs, and be on social media.  I know the blog will be around because I’ve still got the passion driving me, the determination to keep going even when I’m exhausted, and the patience to wait for those few available moments to sit down and write.

How about you?  What’s your blogging story?

An Interview With Poet Charles Jensen

Poet Charles Jensen

This week at the Poetry Blog of 32 Poems Magazine my interview with poet Charles Jensen was posted. He’s a contributor to the magazine and was a delight to interview.  I’m especially impressed with his answer to the elitist myth about poetry, since I feel the same way about the issue.

First, let me tantalize you with a bit from the interview, and then you can go on over and check the rest out for yourself.

Without further ado, here’s the interview.

Do you have any obsessions that you would like to share?

I’m pretty sure none of them are secrets. I love some aspects of “low” culture like trash pop music. I aspire to find ways to sew that into my work as a poet somehow. I am also really connected to film, both as a narrative art and as a form. Physical aspects of film are closely related to the work of poetry for me. I give extensive thought to sequencing, montage, collage, and narrative. Any two things placed in juxtaposition create a narrative. There’s a great story of the Kuleshov Effect, wherein an audience’s construction of narrative changes when the same photo of a person (mostly expressionless) is interspersed with a shot of soup or a shot of a baby, for instance. In the soup narrative, the audience describes the man as looking hungry. In the baby narrative, he looks happy. That effect of context is something I carry with me–how do individual poems, individual lines, individual images speak to each other?

Poetry is often considered elitist or inaccessible by mainstream readers. Do poets have an obligation to dispel that myth and how do you think it could be accomplished?

Poetry itself is none of those things. It is the attitude of the reader that determines what poetry is. The only way to dispel the myth is for people to encounter poetry on their own. I always liken it to television. If you had never seen television in your entire life and then one day turned it on, only to see Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, you might say, “Gosh, I hate television.” But most of us realize that television is a multi-dimensional form with various strategies aimed at different audiences. If you watch television long enough, you will find something that speaks to you. This is true, too, of poetry. But because the poetry world has a reputation of being closed, or because it is taught in high school as a “symbolic” art practiced by dead white people, it loses a lot of its contemporary allure. I think now, more than ever, poetry strives to be egalitarian in a lot of ways–people just need to look.

Please describe your writing space and how it would differ from your ideal writing space.

It is always a total disaster–I would change that! My apartment is very small and my desk is very big–about 30% of my living room. The window is behind me. The room gets almost no natural light. It is absolutely not my ideal writing space. In Phoenix, I had a loft apartment with 20′ ceilings, 17 feet of which were windows. My desk sat up in the loft area, overlooking the living room, facing all the windows and light. That was an amazing place to write. I miss it every day.

He also included a poem for readers to check out:

IT WAS OCTOBER
–for Matthew Shepard

I was love when I entered the bar
shivering in my thin t-shirt and ripped jeans
and I was love when I left that place, tugged along at the wrist
as though tied, with a man I did not know.

I was love there in the morning
when our sour kisses bore the peat of rotten leaves,
fallen October leaves. And it was love that we kissed anyway, not knowing each other’s names.

I was love in that bed
and I was love in the hall and down the stairs and into the freezing rain.

I was love with hands punched deep
into the pockets of a coat.
I was love coated in frozen rain.

Back home, I was love stripped of the cigarette-stung shirt, love pulling the stiff jeans from my legs.
I dried my hair and I was love.

It was October. What did I know of love that year,
shuddering in my nervous skin. Miles away, the boy was lashed to a fence and shivering.

Where that place turned red and the ground soaked through
with what he was, I was love.

What did I know of love then
but that it wasn’t enough.

About the Poet:

Charles Jensen is the author of three chapbooks of poems and The First Risk, which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County and is a co-chair of the Emerging Leader Council of Americans for the Arts. Check out his Website. He’s also a poetry editor with lethe press.

Please check out the rest of the interview on 32 Poems Blog.

Armchair BEA: Interview with The True Book Addict

Hello and welcome to Savvy Verse & Wit.  I’m participating in Armchair BEA for the first time, since I was unable to attend this year for the best of reasons, my new infant daughter (“Wiggles”).

I love interviewing authors, publishers, and other bloggers, so I was excited to find out that one of the activities for this year’s Armchair BEA was to interview another blogger.

Today, you’re going to meet Michelle of The True Book Addict, who loves historical fiction and has a great blog; if you haven’t been there, nothing will stop you from checking it out this week, especially after this interview.

1.  My first question is about the origins of your blog, The True Book Addict.  Did you start blogging about books or did it spin off from other blogs or transform from one type of blog into a book blog?

Before I knew there was such a thing as “book blogs”, I created a MySpace page centered around my being a book addict (The Book Addict).  I had a little blog on there on which I wrote my thoughts about books, but I think maybe one person ever read it. *L*  I met Ryan (Wordsmithonia) on Twitter, and he introduced me to Blogger and book blogging and the rest is history.  I initially named my blog, The Book Addict, like my MySpace page, but soon learned that someone else was using it, hence The True Book Addict.  My reasoning behind this name?  Not true in the sense that I’m the only “true” book addict, but that I am “true” to books!

2.  Were you a book blog reader before starting your own blog? If so, which blogs did you read before beginning your own?

Honestly, as I mentioned, I had no clue about book blogs! The only blog I read was a friend I met on MySpace, author Lisa Kessler.  She had a blog over there and I read her weekly posts.  Lisa just recently got a publishing contract for one of her book series so I can honestly say I knew her when!

3.  Not only do you review books on your blog, but you also are researching your first novel.  Is it historical fiction like many of the books you read, and have those books inspired your novel and how?

I have so many ideas in my head, and yes, they are usually historical . . . sometimes with a paranormal or fantastical twist.  What I’m currently researching is historical.  The historical novels I read inspire me every day, but they also make me realize just how daunting a task writing a historical novel can be.

4.  Here’s a tough question.  As an outsider coming into the book blogging community, did you find it welcoming or did you feel like there were certain cliques that made you feel ostracized?

In my first few months, there was a kind of snafu on the blogs that grew out of a discussion on Twitter.  Something to do with the dos and don’t of your blog.  Some of the things were: you shouldn’t have music on your blog, you shouldn’t have a large header, and other stuff I can’t even remember.  I had a playlist on my blog and many people had already told me they liked it.  But I still felt like I was doing it wrong and I felt kind of bad about my blog, at first.

Then I got to thinking.  We started these blogs for ourselves (at least, I did).  I mean it’s important to accommodate your readers, but it’s also important to be true to yourself.  So, one playlist and large header and almost two years later, I’m still hanging in.  I’m proud of my blog, I love my followers, and I adore the book blogging community.  What at first came across as very clique-y has grown into a home away from home!

5.  Do you think that Armchair BEA will provide you with a similar experience to that of attending the actual convention? Why or why not?

I think what Armchair BEA provides that is similar to being at the convention in person is the sense of camaraderie that meeting up with fellow bloggers supplies.  Yeah, sure, we’re not meeting authors in person or rooming or eating out together, but we are still bonding as a group with Armchair BEA and I think that’s a lovely substitute.

6.  What makes you want to lurk on people’s blogs, but not comment?  And what kinds of posts do you find yourself commenting on most often?

Honestly, I just follow a TON of blogs so I really can’t comment on every review/post.  I would never be off the computer! I do comment on reviews of books I have read and/or books that I’m really interested in.  I try to reciprocate with those who comment often on my blog.  You know, return the favor, so to speak.  I find myself commenting more frequently on topics that interest me the most.  History, historical fiction, posts about peoples’ pets, especially cats, encouragement to people who are having a hard time of it.  And I do always try to make a meaningful comment so I do not want to just stop and say, “great review”, although I have done it.  I am a work in progress though so for those of you out there (ahem…Serena) that I have exposed to my lurking, I WILL try to do better!

Michelle's Boys

7.  Finally, tell us a little more about you.  Some of your quirks, loves, obsessions, and dislikes about blogging, reviewing books, or just anything in life.

Where do I start?  So many quirks and obsessions…and loves! This might be a quirk or an obsession.  I own over 3000 books! That’s right, ladies and gentlemen! 1900+ fiction and the rest non-fiction and Christmas books.  And I.keep.buying.more!

I love being a mother.  I have two sons and they can be quite the handful, but they bring joy to my life every day.  I ADORE cats! Hence the Cat Thursday meme every week.  I am very passionate about history and was a history major until recently. Hoping to be able to finish my degree someday.

Alice

I love blogging and reviewing books, but sometimes it can feel like a chore.  I had taken on way too many review books and then had a major illness last summer so fell WAY behind.  I’ve since stopped accepting review books, except for special cases.  It’s hard for me to resist books in the historical genre (and sometimes horror and fantasy too).  But I’m proud of myself.  I’ve been resisting temptation fairly well.

Thank you, Serena, for the wonderful questions.  I hope I didn’t ramble on too much!

You’re welcome and it was a pleasure.  I hope you’ll feel more comfortable to come out of hiding, my lurking friend.  No, you didn’t ramble at all!  It was great getting to know a little bit about you, your blog, and your thoughts on the blogging community.

Looking for an interview with me?  Check out The Story Factory Reading Zone.

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

Broken down into sessions with a therapist and told in first person point of view, Still Missing by Chevy Stevens provides just the right amount of mystery and tension as Annie’s ordeal is revealed.  Readers should be prepared for a severely broken character from page one, which becomes apparent from the first word she utters to her therapist.  Annie is angry and still scared, and she struggles to tell her story.  The only comfort she has with her therapist is that she’s set the ground rules, and in this way, she has become similar to her abductor.

The jarring narrative style is perfect for the mystery and terror of this story, and Stevens has deftly created an angry and disillusioned character who feels abandonment down to her core.  Cracking her tough exterior is a slow process for the therapy sessions, and there are moments where readers will want the pace to pick up, but Stevens has set the pace appropriately to lead up to the twist at the end.

“Worse, I’ve become one of them–the whiny, depressing people who have no problem telling you exactly how shitty their end of the stick is.  All delivered in a tone of voice that makes it clear they not only got the wrong end, you got the one that was supposed to be theirs.” (page 29 of ARC)

During a couple of moments in the novel, Annie contends she’s watched enough crime dramas and read enough books to know about the criminal mind — at least in part — but then proceeds to “appease” her abductor as he tries to force himself upon her to protect her friend from him, even though from the beginning it has been obvious that he prefers her to express fear because it arouses him.  This may be a bit nit-picky, but given the set up, readers may find it inconsistent with Annie’s earlier characterization of herself.

Stevens successfully creates a character who is tough to love or even sympathize with as she pushes away everyone in her life, including her devoted boyfriend, especially when all readers see of her relationships are from her point of view.  Why does Luke remain devoted while she’s gone, why does her mother take her in if she’s so callous and drunk all the time, etc.?  The mystery of her kidnapping is revealed slowly throughout the therapy sessions, which move through “present” events more rapidly near the end of the book.  Readers may see the ending coming before it gets there if they’re intuitive and looking for clues along the way, and the final line of the book is very trite.  However, the action and suspense created by Stevens’ narrative style make the journey worthwhile.

Annie in many ways is still missing even after she’s returned home, and she was even partially missing before she was abducted.  Still Missing will provide readers and book clubs with a great deal to discuss about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), abduction, rape, and other horrifying events.

About the Today’s Exclusive Online Event:

The paperback release of Still Missing hits stores today, and in honor of that event, BookTrib is holding an online chat and giveaway with the author Chevy Stevens at 3 PM.  In addition to the online chat, the event will include exclusive video from the author and 10 gift bags for the giveaway.  Don’t miss out!

About the Author:

Chevy Stevens grew up on a ranch on Vancouver Island and still calls the island home. For most of her adult life she worked in sales, first as a rep for a giftware company and then as a Realtor. At open houses, waiting between potential buyers, she spent hours scaring herself with thoughts of horrible things that could happen to her. Her most terrifying scenario, which began with being abducted, was the inspiration for STILL MISSING. After six months Chevy sold her house and left real estate so she could finish the book.

Chevy enjoys writing thrillers that allow her to blend her interest in family dynamics with her love of the west coast lifestyle. When she’s not working on her next book, she’s hiking with her husband and dog in the local mountains.  Please also check out her blog, follow her on Twitter, and on Facebook.

 

This is my 21st book for the 2011 New Authors Reading Challenge.

 

 

This is my 12th book for the 2011 Wish I’d Read That Challenge.  I’ve wanted to read this since I received a copy from Shelf Awareness.