I have a few reminders for you! 
Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine. It is designed to showcase upcoming releases that we are eagerly awaiting. Determined to sever his ties with the Office, Gabriel Allon has retreated to the windswept cliffs of Cornwall with his beautiful Venetian-born wife, Chiara. But once again his seclusion is interrupted by a visitor from his tangled past: the endearingly eccentric London art dealer Julian Isherwood. As usual, Isherwood has a problem. And it is one only Gabriel can solve.
In the ancient English city of Glastonbury, an art restorer has been brutally murdered and a long-lost portrait by Rembrandt mysteriously stolen. Despite his reluctance, Gabriel is persuaded to use his unique skills to search for the painting and those responsible for the crime. But as he painstakingly follows a trail of clues leading from Amsterdam to Buenos Aires and, finally, to a villa on the graceful shores of Lake Geneva, Gabriel discovers there are deadly secrets connected to the painting. And evil men behind them.
Before he is done, Gabriel will once again be drawn into a world he thought he had left behind forever, and will come face-to-face with a remarkable cast of characters: a glamorous London journalist who is determined to undo the worst mistake of her career, an elusive master art thief who is burdened by a conscience, and a powerful Swiss billionaire who is known for his good deeds but may just be behind one of the greatest threats facing the world.
Filled with remarkable twists and turns of plot, and told with seductive prose, The Rembrandt Affair is more than just summer entertainment of the highest order. It is a timely reminder that there are men in the world who will do anything for money.
Boadicea's Legacy (Boadicea's Descendants series - Book 3) by Traci E. Hall
Skinny is Overrated: The Real Woman's Guide to Health and Happiness at Any Size by Dr. Danielle Milano
The Left Hand of God by Paul HoffmanPaul Hoffman's novel of astonishing scope and imagination, featuring a darkly gifted teenage boy at the center of a brutal holy war, grabs the reader from its incredible opening lines and refuses to let go. The Left Hand of God is the first novel in an epic, ambitious trilogy that will prove irresistible to the readers who have turned the Inheritance Cycle, Twilight, and the His Dark Materials series into publishing phenomena. The Left Hand of God is the story of sixteen-year-old Thomas Cale, who has grown up imprisoned at the Sanctuary of the Redeemers, a fortress run by a secretive sect of warrior monks in a distant, dystopian past. He is one of thousands of boys who train all day in hand-to-hand combat, in preparation for a holy war that only the High Priests know is now imminent. He has no reason to think he's special, no idea there's another world outside the compound's walls, and no hope for a life any different from the one he already knows. And then, Cale opens a door. What follows is a daring escape, an unlikely alliance, a desperate pursuit, a journey of incredible discovery, and an adventure the likes of which Cale could never possibly have imagined, culminating in Cale's astonishing realization that he alone has the power to save his world- or to destroy it.
Thoughts:
This is a highly anticipated new trilogy by Paul Hoffman. It is his first North American release and starts the series off with a bang. The book tends to defy classification. It could be considered dark fantasy, or dystopian, it's not historical fiction or science fiction. It's certainly one of a kind and will appeal to a very broad audience including teenagers.
The story begins in the Sanctuary which I would describe as a cross between a monastery, an orphanage and a dungeon. Young boys are recruited from a very young age and brought to this place to learn combat techniques and to use weapons in an upcoming holy war. One of the recruits is Thomas Cale. When the reader meets Cale he is 16 years old and has no idea what the outside world is all about. His life is full of training, beatings, and survival. Cale unexpectedly gets himself into a situation where he not only doubts what, the Redeemer's have taught him, but his own idea's about himself as well. He escapes along with some friends and makes his way to the city of Memphis, where he meets Arabella.
This book has a lot of different themes. It is a coming of age novel, where Cale not only comes into his own as a man and a hero but also has his first love. Cale's character seems almost reluctant to take on the hero status, but we do see him grow as the book goes on, through the eyes of the other characters. Another theme would be learning what you believe in yourself and not just what you are told by other people. Cale finds that everything he has been taught may not be true and he struggles with his own ideas of God and the afterlife, as many do today. The book also focuses on how Cale was able to make something of himself or almost reinvent himself once he escapes from the Sanctuary. There is a lot going on in this novel. There is a huge cliffhanger ending that sets up for the next novel in the series.
This book is fast paced and the reader is thrown head first into the action. I found it somewhat confusing, and had to go back a little bit to get the gist of some of the things that were happening. There are some asides in the novel that kind of take away from the overall writing of the book and remind you that it's not quite what you think it is. Definitely, an interesting writing style. I thought the characters could have been developed a little more thoroughly but I believe there is room for more development in the series. I don't read a lot of fantasy, but always enjoy the world building aspects of it. This book was no exception. This was a very dark and interesting world.
Based on the world building and fantasy aspects of the book I'm giving this one 4 out of 5 apples from by book bag!
Check out the book trailer!
The Left Hand of God is now available from your favorite bookseller!
Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
My Synopsis:
The subject of a Time magazine feature called, "The Man Who Can't Miss," James Patterson is the bestselling author of the past year, bar none, with more than 16 million books sold in North America alone. In 2007, one of every fifteen hardcover fiction books sold was a Patterson title. In the past three years, James has sold more books than any other author (according to Bookscan), and in total, James's books have sold an estimated 170 million copies worldwide. He is the first author to have #1 new titles simultaneously on The New York Times adult and children's lists and is the only author to have five new hardcover novels debut at #1 on the list in one year—a record-breaking feat he's accomplished every year since 2005. To date, James Patterson has had nineteen consecutive #1 New York Times bestselling novels, and holds the New York Timesrecord for most Hardcover Fiction bestselling titles by a single author (53 total), which is also a Guinness World Record.
From his James Patterson Pageturner Awards (which rewarded groups and individuals for creative and effective ways to spread the joy of reading) to his websiteReadKiddoRead.com (which helps adults find books that kids are sure to love) to his regular donations of thousands of books to troops overseas, Patterson is a lifelong champion of books and reading. His first foray into books for all ages was the critically acclaimed Maximum Ride series, which debuted on the New York Times bestsellers list at #1 and remained there for twelve straight weeks. The series has so far made appearances on The New York Times bestsellers lists ninety-four cumulative times, proving that kids of all ages love page turners. He captured the attention of boy readers with the Daniel X series, and his third series for readers of all ages debuted in December 2009 with Witch & Wizard, which spent five consecutive weeks atop the New York Times bestsellers list.
Patterson is the creator of the #1 new detective series of the past dozen years, featuring Alex Cross and including the Hollywood-adapted "Along Came a Spider" and "Kiss the Girls," starring Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman. He is also the creator of the #1 new detective series of the past five years, featuring Lindsay Boxer and the other members of the Women's Murder Club, from which the ABC television drama series was adapted. He has authored books behind six films on the Hollywood fast-track, including the upcoming Maximum Ride movie forthcoming from Avi Arad, the producer of X-Men and Spiderman.
He is the author of novels—from The Thomas Berryman Number (1976) to Honeymoon(2005)—that have won awards including the Edgar, the BCA Mystery Guild's Thriller of the Year, the International Thriller of the Year award, and the Reader's Digest Reader's Choice Award.
One of Forbes magazine's Celebrity 100, James made a guest appearance on the popular FOX TV show "The Simpsons" in March, 2007.
Shelia at, One Person's Journey Through a World of Books gets all the credit for this one...
My Synopsis:
