Review and Giveaway!! Crazy Heart by Thomas Cobb

I was excited to receive a copy of Crazy Heart from Erica over at Harper Perennial, simply because I had heard all of the Oscar buzz about the movie. And since books are always better than the movie, I decided that yes, I needed to read this book.

Bad Blake is a down and out country star who has gone from headlining his own nationwide tours with his own band to playing in bowling alleys and dive bars with local amateur musicians. Time has not been good to Bad – he’s a raging alcoholic (though his benders have lessened through time), a chain smoker and a bit overweight…with no intentions on changing any of that. He’s been married and divorced four times, and has an estranged adult son who he hasn’t seen or spoken to in twenty years.

Thomas Cobb has written this story in such a way where you tend to sympathize and feel sorry for Bad, even though you know he’s brought all his heartache on himself. I felt sad that he couldn’t find the words to write new material, I felt bad to know that his former protégé, the guy Bad taught everything he knew and turned him in to a raw kid to a great musician, basically tossed him aside once he had his stardom.

When Bad meets Jean Craddock, you think this might just be the woman who’s going to turn things around for him. I just felt this ache for him, I wanted so badly for him to turn his life around, get in control of his drinking, quit smoking, lose weight, fall in love and live happily ever after… But remember, this book is about a country singer…

Even if you have seen the movie (which I haven’t yet!), this book is definitely worth a read. Thomas Cobb did a great job of creating this character and his world.

In fact, I am going to give away my gently used copy of Crazy Heart!!! All you have to do is leave a comment here on this post. You have to leave a valid email address – if you don’t I won’t be able to get a hold of you, and you won’t be entered!! Last day to enter is Wednesday, March 31, with the winner to be announced Thursday, April 1!! Oh, and let’s open it up to anyone!! Good luck!!!

Thanks again to Erica from Harper Perennial for allowing me to read and review this book!!!

Library question of the day

I really haven't been posting much, so two posts in as many days is insane!! But, I just couldn't let this one go without a mention...

**ring, ring**

Real Librarian: Fabulous Public Library, this is A Real Librarian, can I help you?
Lady Caller: Hi yes, my husband lost our phone, and he thinks it might either be there or at the grocery store.
RL: Ok, well, I don't see anything turned in here at the desk, but I can check in the lost and found for you, too.
LC: Well, it's not like a cell phone...it's our home phone.
RL: *trying not to laugh* Um, okay, well, I'll check. *checks* Nope, I didn't see a phone at all.
LC: Thanks for checking.

I wonder what this lady is thinking about her husband...

I suppose I shouldn't talk, though. Sometimes, while working at the retail store, I carry the cordless phone around hooked onto my pants pocket. Well, one morning, I'm driving back to the store from the bank, when I hear a dialtone. You guessed it, I brought the phone with me to the bank. Nice. At least I didn't take it home, right?!

May I have your attention, please

So, I'm sure we all have things that we wish we could say to people, but it's just not appropriate or we don't think of it until after the fact. Well, I've come up with a couple of things that I wish I could tell people, or maybe even announce over the library's paging system. Or maybe post them up like "rules" at the Pool or something like that...Hmm, now there's an idea!

Remember, this list is based on actual events...

1. Please try to remain in the vicinity of your child. That way, if he starts screaming "Mom!! MOM!!! MOTHER!!!!" you will be close enough to stop the screaming after the first "Mom!!"

2. Please refrain from running in the library. We are not a racetrack or a playground. If you fall and crack your head, we are not responsible.

3. The library is not a place for pornography. If you want to look at hot naked co-eds on Myspace, please do so at home.

4. We don't need to be teaching the kids that it's okay to "roar" in the library. Unless you teach them to use their "inside roar."

5. Please pick up after your children. Unless you want me to come to your house, throw all the toys and books all over the room and leave so you can pick it all up. Cuz, I will.

6. Please remember that voices carry. If you are sitting at a computer in the children's room telling your friend how you threw rocks at the neighbor's car, we can hear you. And make sure we don't know your neighbor.

If you have anything you'd like to add, please leave a comment!!! I'd love to hear what y'all come up with!!!

It takes all kinds...

So, I have another customer story for you, and I promise, this is a good one.

Now, I'm all about pets. I love dogs and cats, and wish I had some pets of my own. I sometimes even gush over the really cute ones.

That being said, I didn't really appreciate the lady who brought her dog into the store on a busy Sunday. Maybe it's one thing to have the dog in one of those carry-on type bags where the pooch is just kind of along for the ride, but this dog was not in one of those handy bags. Mostly, the lady was carrying it around, but at some points, the dog (though attached to a leash) was running around on the floor!!! Ok, seriously, I think you can get away with this at PetCo, but our clothing store is NOT PetCo.

Anyway, at one point, the Dog Lady is in the fitting room, and you can see the dog is lying on the floor watching her. I am about to let another customer into an empty fitting room, but always knock on the door to make sure there isn't another customer inside.

Real Librarian: **knock, knock**

Dog: *WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF*

Dog Lady: No, no... Use your inside voice!!

Yup, that's what she said. She told her DOG to use it's INSIDE voice. For a minute there I thought I might be in the library...

Promo 101 Virtual Blog Tour - Second Sight by Judith Orloff

I am so excited to be able to share my thoughts about the book Second Sight: An Intuitive Psychiatrist tells her extraordinary story and shows you how to tap your own inner wisdom by Judith Orloff. I started this book a little shaky, because you just never know how personal stories are going to go. I hoped it wouldn't be a dry account of "this happened, then this happened," and I truly wasn't disappointed. This book read like a novel, and I couldn't wait to find out what happened next.

Dr. Orloff is an Intuitive Psychiatrist, and tells her story from growing up with intuitive gifts and how she turned those gits into a practical practice to help people in all aspects of their lives. There are revelations about her family and how they discouraged her from revealing her gifts to others, because they didn't want her to be made fun of or looked down upon. She also talks about her mentors who encouraged her to explorer her gifts. It truly felt like I was going on this journey with her!

My favorite aspect of the book, though, was all the stories Dr. Orloff told in relation to her personal journey. She told of how her intuition predicted events, how she was able to analyze her dreams to intrepret different situations, and how she used her hands and the power of love to heal her patients.

One thing Dr. Orloff made sure to point out was that she is not "special." She believes that everyone has the power to tap into their own intuition and nurture their own abilities. She teaches us all tips on how we can harness our own intuition.

I definitely think that everyone would benefit from reading this book. Her story is one of self discovery and love, and the way she tells it is truly inspiring. I was very impressed with her style of writing and her voice, and think that my own life will benefit from reading her story.

Thanks to Nikki at Promo 101 Promotional Blog Tours for contactng me about this awesome book!!

GET your copy of Second Sight ON MARCH 1st and receive 80+ GIfts from amazing teachers such as Dr. Joan Borysenko, Rev. Michael Beckwith, and Deepak Chopra, and Shirley MacLaine at http://www.drjudithorloff.com/second-sight-promotion/

Update on The Greatest Gift

Remember when I posted the story about The Tornado? It turns out, as someone in the comments predicted, she LIED!!!!

She came into our store not terribly long ago, though luckily, I wasn't there. Of course she was returning some stuff. But, I hear she was uncharacteristically pleasant. Hmm, interesting. Maybe she felt bad for how childish and crazy she acted when she was there the last time.

Naw, probably not...

Pump Up Your Book Promotion Tour: Buying Time by

I just finished a great suspenseful novel, the latest from author Pamela Samuels Young called Buying Time. I love suspense, and this one definitely had me hooked throughout the whole thing!! Here's a little about the book:

Buying Time is a scandalous tale of blackmail, murder and betrayal, evoking John Grisham with a dash of Terry McMillan.

Waverly Sloan is a down-on-his-luck lawyer. But just when he’s about to hit rock bottom, he stumbles upon a business with the potential to solve all of his problems.

In Waverly’s new line of work, he comes to the aid of people in desperate need of cash. But there’s a catch. His clients must be terminally ill and willing to sign over rights to their life insurance policies before they can collect a dime. Waverly then finds investors eager to advance them thousands of dollars—including a hefty broker’s fee for himself—in exchange for a significant return on their investment once the clients take their last breath.

The stakes get higher when Waverly brokers the policy of the cancer-stricken wife of Lawrence Erickson, a high-powered lawyer who’s bucking to become the next U.S. Attorney General. When Waverly’s clients start dying sooner than they should, both Waverly and Erickson—who has some skeletons of his own to hide—are unwittingly drawn into a perilous web of greed, blackmail and murder.

Soon, a determined federal prosecutor is hot on Waverly’s trail. But when the prosecutor’s own life begins to unravel, she finds herself on the run—with Waverly at her side.

This book, like I said, hooked me from the beginning. I had never heard about this kind of business venture before, so I found it really intriguing. But this novel has so much more than that. The stories of all the characters become so entwined together you find yourself just wrapped up in all the drama. I read this in a just a couple of sittings (which is amazing for me these days, since I am working 3 jobs - haha!), because I just didn't want to put it down.

Pamela Samuels Young has a great writing style that will draw you in and keep you interested throughout the whole thing. I haven't read any of her other stuff, but I will definitely be picking up one or two of her other novels now!!

Thanks so much to Tracee from Pump Up Your Book Promotional Book Tours for contacting me about this book!! If you like a good mystery suspense, then this one is for you!!!