by velocibadgergirl

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Summer Blowout by Claire Cook

I received Summer Blowout through the Library Thing Early Reviewers Program. It took me a little while to get into the story, in part because the main character, Bella Shaughnessy, is a makeup artist and spends quite a bit of the first few chapters talking about makeovers and salons and lipstick. I don't wear makeup and know nothing about it, so I was at a bit of a disadvantage.

I'm glad I didn't give up on the book, because it did get better. I loved the relationship Bella had with her brother Mario, and thought that she was a believable and relatively likable character. Her love interest, Sean Ryan, is nice and funny and doesn't do anything sleazy or suspect, which is nice in a chick lit novel. Overall, Summer Blowout was a light, fast read, which is sometimes just what a summer day calls for.


I'd like to pass on my copy of the book, in the interest of sharing the summer fun. If you're interested, leave me a comment and tell me about your favorite summer book. You can name an individual book, a genre, or even share a treasured summer reading memory. Don't forget to include your email address. US residents only, since this is the first giveaway I've tried and would like to start simple. Contest closes on August 14th at midnight.

To be fair, here's one of my favorite summer reading memories:  the summer before the Two Towers movie came out, I re-read the book. I went to a writer's workshop that summer in a town with an open-air chapel that overlooked some fields and a small strip of woods. It was the perfect setting for a lazy afternoon reading about the battle at Helm's Deep, and I know that every time I re-read that book, I'll be transported back to that day.

Your turn, and good luck!


Winner!

Congratulations, bibliophile 81! I plugged all the entries into random.org, randomized them, and then emailed MB at work to ask him to pick a number.

Thanks to everyone who entered. I'll probably be giving away a few more advanced copy books in the next few months, so check back!


Just kidding!
The bibliophile admitted she just entered the contest to be supportive, and had already looked at the book at the library. I re-listed everyone, re-randomized it, and had her pick a number. So, congratulations to geek girl!

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16 Comments:

Blogger GeekGirl said...

Ooo! It sounds like the perfect light read for a summer day! Count me in! My favorite summer reads usually fall into the chick lit category: Anything by Sophie Kinsella is usually fun to pack for a day at the beach!

11:27 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Please enter me, and THANKS for the giveaway.

My favorite summer read is Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married by Marian Keyes, it's a great book and I have fond memories of lying on the beach reading it.

trentonreads AT gmail DOT com

9:19 AM  
Blogger Rybrarian said...

The favorite book so far that I have this summer is 'Baltimore' by Christopher Golden. Kind of a dark story about a soldier who fights evil. It helped get me through the plane ride to the ALA conference in Anaheim and back, so I appreciated it. It's also kind of fun to read a dark spooky story when it's so sunny outside.

I'd love to enter! My e-mail is ryandonovanlibrarian AT gmail DOT com

10:52 AM  
Blogger basscomm said...

It's interesting that you should bring this up, as I was just the other day pondering some kind of Summer Reading activities.

This year I think I need to go back and read the Jeff Rovin Nintendo hint books. The 'How to Win at Nintendo Games' series of books were an absolute treasure trove of information for my young mind. They look like your standard paperback books, only the 'chapters' are each devoted to walkthroughs of various games for the original NES.

Several Summers ago I pored over these books time after time after time because they were way cheaper than actually playing the games themselves; I could vicariously play these games through the books, which was pretty awesome. The presentation is kind of like a dead-tree edition of GameFAQs, but he actually described the game to you instead of just telling you what to do and where to go. He kind of had to since the books weren't illustrated in any way.

I only have two volumes of the four volume series, books two and three, and my copy of two is so well worn that the front and back cover are missing, as well as the title page.

The Internet has pretty well killed off the need for this kind of book, which is a shame, really. I could have totally gotten into writing something similar had the market for them not dried up.

As far as my email goes, it's basscommATgmail.com, but you already knew that :)

11:44 AM  
Blogger GeekGirl said...

Ooops, forgot to include my e-mail!

lolkatings AT gmail DOT com

6:15 PM  
Blogger bibliophile81 said...

Count me in. You know my e-mail. Um favorite book this summer... either The Sugar Queen by Sarah Allison Allen or the Spellman books by Lisa Lutz.

11:59 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm always up for a free book :-)

bbmp6685 at gmail.com

12:00 PM  
Blogger Melsy626 said...

Great contest, please enter me!!! :)

As for my favorite summer read, I am going to pick my fave from this summer so far and that would be: A Little Less Talk and A Lot More Action by LuAnn McLane. It was an awesome book that brought out all kinds of emotions for me!!! :)

Thanks for hosting the give away!!! :)

12:25 PM  
Blogger Maria said...

Anything by Christopher Moore. His writing actually makes me laugh out loud, and I can re-read them and still enjoy.

For summer not so light reading, I like Mary Roach. Entertaining, educational, but not heavy duty stuff. Also makes me laugh, but in an entirely different way!

6:33 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I remember reading Nancy Drew mysteries all during my summer vacations as a kid. Used to love those books! Enter me please.

jgbeads[at]gmail[dot]com

12:55 PM  
Blogger Kimberly said...

Looks good! My favorite summer book is Barefoot by Elin Hiderbrand.

picklechic@hotmail.com

9:09 PM  
Blogger samantha35 said...

my favorite summer read was blood is the new black- tons of fun with a little hint of a thriller at times

bmorrison12@cox.net

10:38 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

For summer I usually go something sweet, and quick read.

aimme21[at]yahoo[dot]com

11:03 AM  
Blogger Shonda said...

Thanks for hosting this book giveaway.

My favorite summer memory is waking up early, eating breakfast and sitting outside on my front porch and reading. I usually read until lunch time. After eating lunch, I would go back outside and read until my mom called me in for dinner. After dinner and cleaning the kitchen, I would return to my chair and read until the sun set. This is how I spent most of my summer vacation between my freshmen and sophomore year of high school. I still enjoy reading outside. Unfortunately I don't have the luxury to do it for long periods of time anymore.

My e-mail: shonm428@gmail.com

5:39 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

My favourite was To Serve and Submit by Susan Wright. It killed some time while I had summer school.

faked_sugartone at hotmail.com

3:47 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Summer is get what you can and read, read, read (due possible by the thanks of the public library)before school comes! I mostly read romance, comedy, and a splash of mystery.

ylin.0621[at]yahoo.com

7:40 AM  

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