~Sunday Stew - May 1st, 2011~

Sunday Stew is a Weekly Meme hosted Here at Books Devoured

Bookmark of the Week:

 

Okay, so my photography is obviously as bad as my memory. First of all, I cannot, for the life of me remember which blogger sent me this AMAZING bookmark. And I SO BADLY want to remember, because I do want to give them due credit, and thank them! So, dear, blogger who sent me this, if you see my post, please DO send me a virtual SLAP! to remind me of your generosity! And second of all, I keep forgetting to take my pictures of the bookmarks during the day, and then end up taking them at night - and since my bedroom has really dim lighting (a personal choice, perhaps I am a Vampire!?!? *wink wink*) they turn out to be quite crappy, as you can see. But Alex Pettyfer STILL manages to look completely beautiful, doesn't he? How freakin' GORGEOUS is Alex Petryfer? I mean, look at that manly Adam's apple - you know why they call it that, right!?!? Because it's SO gosh-darn tempting! *Rawr*

Around The Web:

I know you're wondering why it is that I keep posting these links to "Blog Hops", well, I want to clarify as to why. First of all, I want all my readers/followers to be able to avail the wonderful opportunities that these blog hops present - not just to win prizes, but to come across some WONDERFUL blogs that you may otherwise have ignored. The point of these blog hops is not merely to win stuff, it is really to promote the bloggers that so generously offer such magnanimous giveaways! :D 

This wonderful "Spring  Blog Carnival" is an extremely fun blog hop hosted by Pure Imagination, Reading Angel and Candace's Book Blog (love these ladies), with some other amazing bloggers hosting fun carnival challenges such as Reading Teen, The Mod Podge Bookshelf, Lovely Lit, The Book Swarm, Actin' Up With Books, Awesomesauce Bookclub, Books R Us, Colloquium, Minding Spot & Miss Remmer's Review.  Make sure to check the blogs out, and be gracious to these immensely generous bloggers. In fact, I am so inspired by these bloggers that are so big-hearted, I've decided I'm going to be participating in a blog hop soon! So thank you, fellow bloggers, for being such an inspiration - and also for being so generous and wonderful.

Around Me: 

First of all, I got my first blog award. I have seen many sites be "award-free" sites because they cannot do the awards justice, or cannot keep track of them. I do not have that problem yet, because I most certainly will be gracious every day of my life for this amazing honor, and also because I don't have very many that I may lose track of them! LOL :P That being said, my first blog award, was presented to me by the ever-lovely, unbelievably generous, sweet and kind Margaret at Lovely Lit Blog. When this darling lady is not generously hosting giveaways (check out the amazing giveaways on her blog), she is creating AMAZING widgets (she created this lovely widget for "The Eternal Sea" on my page of ~Upcoming Books~) or making wonderful awards, one of which she awarded me, for which I simply cannot thank her enough. THANK YOU Margaret. Here is the beautiful award (you can also see it on my sidebar, as well as on the ~Blog Awards~ page)

 

Okay, onto the next order of business. I also wanted to take this opportunity to thank Ms. Laurel Ann Natrress of Austenprose - A Jane Austen Blog (If you're a Jane Austen fan, this site will become your personal haven, please do visit & follow!). Some time ago, she hosted an amazing contest on her blog, a "Z" Day Celebration in honor of the release of "Dreadfully Ever After" by Steve Hockensmith which required for the participant to write a short essay saying why it was that you deserved to win. Ms. Nattress specified "Creativity counts. I will pick the winners based on your partial and prejudiced replies." The prizes being offered were either a copy of "Pride & Prejudice & Zombies", "Dawn of the Dreadfuls" or "Dreadfully Ever After" and (the jackpot), a limited press item which was a Pride & Prejudice & Zombies Apothecary Kit (the picture will take you to the actual Etsy store it was bought from):

I decided I was going to channel my (almost non-existent) creativity, and instead of providing a reason why, I would write a fictional account of how medicine, and especially an apothecary kit, helped me assuage the pain of a loved one in need. I am presenting my entry to you:

It was the late hours of the night, and the early hours of the morning – the time when the sun, swallowed whole by the darkness of the night, is ready to escape its confines and greet the world. Slivers of sunlight had begun to brighten the horizon and stream though the curtains, creating shadows on his face. A beautiful, angelic face now marred by rotting flesh, and scars – I held his hand tight, and caressed his cheek soothingly. 

How helpless was I, not being able to do a thing more for the love of my life! I could not leave the house, for I knew that the moment my foot hit the threshold, I’d be faced with those monsters – a horde of savage, brutish beasts controlled only by the virus streaming through their blood, making them desire nothing more than the flesh of another human being, turning them into zombies. I wanted to run for help, but I knew that the doctor himself had been contaminated. I had no hope, and I had no choice, I could either let him turn into a freak like them, or end his misery. 

I lifted his head up so that he could sip the herbal tea that I had made him. Fennel, licorice and ginger root when boiled together made for a medicinal tea, known for its analgesic and anesthetic properties – I’d learned this while I was an apprentice for Dr. Dashwood. I’d added peppermint because I knew he loved peppermint tea best, but unbeknownst to him, I had also been adding small amounts of arsenic to my concoction. As he sipped the tea he elicited a sigh, the sound of which sounded exactly the same as my heart breaking. 

“Help me, Lizzie!”, he cried out in pain. “Oh, Darcy,Darcy,Darcy.”, I said, cradling his head in my lap, bending down to kiss his feverish cheek, while I could smell his breath beginning to smell faintly of garlic. I did not know how else to alleviate his pain, so I picked up my favorite book, “Pride & Prejudice” and read to him. The sun had finally, come up now, and I could hear his breathing getting shallower. I held his callused hands in mine and tried to keep him with me, hoping the romantic words would make his last few moments pleasant – that such beautiful words were what he would remember me by, always. 

When the moment finally arrived, I recognized it. But I was not alone, I could tell by the look in his eyes, so had he. He pulled me close, and hoarsely whispered these words into my ear, words I’d just earlier read to him, “In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” – and as a silent tear escaped my eyes, trailing down my pale cheek, he closed his eyes, and was gone.

~The End~

As fortune may smile upon me, I won! I won, I won, I won *dances around with glee*, and darling Laurel Ann sent the beautiful Apothecary Kit to me. I cannot thank her enough for her generosity, and I will always cherish this present. I received it and have had it for a little while, and it sits proudly atop my small bookshelf. It brings me such joy, especially since (as most of you may know) I am a student of Medicine - I thought I'd share the pictures with you. 

On a completely random side note, the "Unmentional Preparedness Kit" was listed on the Etsy shop on November 19th, 2010 which, coincidentally happens to be my birthday! Funny coincidence, huh? :)

Okay, so I went overboard today, and completely bombarded you with all this stuff. I am sorry the post was so long, but I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to leave me any comments/feedback you may like. I hope you have a glorious Sunday, a blessed rest of the week, and that you'll continue to visit! :)

"The Scent of Rain & Lightning" by Nancy Pickard - Small Town, Big Secrets

Details

Title: The Scent of Rain & Lightning
Author: Nancy Pickard
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Release Date : May 4th, 2010
Available to order here: Amazon / The Book Depository / Barnes & Noble 

Synopsis

One beautiful summer afternoon, Jody Linder receives shocking news: The man convicted of murdering her father is being released from prison and returning to the small town of Rose, Kansas. It has been twenty-three years since that stormy night when her father was shot and killed and her mother disappeared, presumed dead. Neither the protective embrace of Jody’s three uncles nor the safe haven of her grandparents’ ranch could erase the pain caused by Billy Crosby on that catastrophic night.

Now Billy Crosby is free, thanks to the efforts of his son, Collin, a lawyer who has spent most of his life trying to prove his father’s innocence. Despite their long history of carefully avoiding each other in such an insular community, Jody and Collin find that they share an exclusive sense of loss. As Jody revisits old wounds, startling truths emerge about her family’s tragic past. But even through struggle and hardship, she still dares to hope for a better future—and maybe even love.

My Review

It is undeniable that author Nancy Pickard has a flair for writing about murder mysteries that take place in small town settings. "The Scent of Rain & Lightning" is the second novel that I've read by Nancy Pickard, the first being "The Virgin of Small Plains" which went straight into the list of my favorite mystery novels of all time. Thus, when I picked up this book, I had a lot of expectations. And despite how pre-hyped (and over-hyped, I must add) the book had been in my mind, it came through on all my expectations.

Nancy Pickard has a knack for concocting mysteries that are sure to make your head spin, and have you grasping at clues to piece the puzzle together, and yet you'll find yourself completely clueless until the very end, until the author allows it to slowly unravel in all its glory. I pride myself in being a darn intuitive reader, and I must admit (far from humbly) that I can usually predict who the killer is, or the motive, much earlier than the ending of the book - but Pickard's novels always render my intuition useless, and leave me guessing until the very end, which is why I happen to love them. I love that there's an author who can trump my intuition, and leave me begging for more.

However, what makes this novel so great, it is not just the mystery itself, but the characters that the writer creates. You cannot help but feel empathy towards the mother who has lost her son, the daughter who has lost her parents, and with them, her childhood, and the son who may not like his father but feels obligated to defend him. The book is full of wonderful, meaningful characters that are real, and easy to relate to, even if you may not like them. After reading her books, one is convinced that author Nancy Pickard has never stepped foot outside spent her entire life in a secluded, rural, remote and small farm-town somewhere in the Midwest; her description of the town of Rose, Kansas is so spot-on, and her description of the dynamics and relationships between the townspeople is excessively real and believable.

Will Jody be able to forgive Billy Crosby, in order to move on with her life? Will she be able to let her guard down, and allow herself to care for Collin, the son of the man who killed her father? Will she ever find her missing mother? Will her wounds ever be filled, and will she ever move on with her life, fall in love again, or feel safe again?

Overall, I highly recommend this novel to someone who likes to read about murder mysteries, but also to those who like reading about the interpersonal interactions between people from a small-town like Rose, Kansas. Above all, I recommend you to read it for the riveting mystery, and for the characters, like Jody, who you'll remember long after you are done with the novel.

My Rating 5/5 Stars

Disclaimer: I bought a copy of this book for my personal reading/reviewing purposes, I was not compensated monetarily, or in any other way, for my opinion. The opinions stated in this review are solely mine, and are not representative of views of the author, or publishing company, of this book.