Frostbitten – Women of the Otherworld #10
by Kelley Armstrong

Wow! Frostbitten, the 10^th novel in the Women of the Otherworld series gets my vote for best novel of the series so far!  Frostbitten is told from Elena’s point of view, taking us back to our original (and my personal favourite) narrator.  The story is set predominantly in Alaska, and features Elena and Clay almost exclusively. We do get to touch base with some of our other much-loved Werewolves, and we also get to meet some fantastic new characters that I hope we’ll be seeing more of in future stories.

Right from the first page, Frostbitten is filled with action, intrigue and excitement, and of course… a little bit of romance.  (What else would you expect from a book featuring Elena and Clay??)  I don’t want to give any of the juicy plot away so I’ll stop there, but I’m quite sure that fans of the Women of the Otherworld series will love Frostbitten, while fans of supernatural fiction in general, could enjoy it as a great standalone novel as well.

Frostbitten, the 10^th novel in the Women of the Otherworld series goes on sale tomorrow – Tuesday, September 29, 2009. Be sure to pick up your copy!

*I won this book in Kelley Armstrong’s Twitter contest.

Summer’s over, and we’ve had the month of September to get back into the swing of things – including our monthly Book Club discussion! As you’ve probably seen in our earlier post, our book for the month of September is Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron and Bret Witter.

We were lucky enough this month to find some great discussion questions on www.readinggroupguides.com that we think will help get us all talking! As always, don’t feel that you have to stick to these topics, please feel free to bring up anything you wish to discuss about the book!

1. What do you think of Dewey Readmore Books? Was he a special cat because of his personality, his circumstances, or both?
2. What was your favorite Dewey story? What was the funniest Dewey story? Which was most touching? Did his habits remind you of cats you have known or owned?
3. Vicki Myron believes she had a deep connection with Dewey. For example, he knew when he was going to the vet before she even said the word. Do you believe people and animals can have such a connection? If so, how do they read us so well?
4. Why do you think Dewey became so famous?
5. What does this book say about small town life? Has it changed your opinion of towns like Spencer, Iowa?
6. How much of an impact do you think Dewey had on Spencer? Do you believe he affected the town? If so, how?
7. At the beginning of the book, Spencer is going through hard times because of a collapse in land/housing values. Do you see parallels to our current economic situation? Are there lessons to be learned from this town?
8. Some people think Vicki Myron should not have included so many details of her life in the book. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
9. How do you think the circumstances of Vicki’s life affected her relationship with Dewey? How do you think the circumstances of Dewey’s life—particularly his night in the book drop box—affected his relationship with Vicki?
10. What did you think of the library board’s desire for Dewey to “retire” to Vicki’s house to live out the last months of his life?

Please join us to discuss Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World in the comments below!

There’s a lot more to love about books than just the stories inside, and while we often focus on book reviews here at WAGB, we also appreciate the pretty things in a book-lovers life, like gorgeous covers, lovely bookmarks, fun book-bags, coveted autographs, and of course, cool gadgets. Which brings me to a new little feature we’re adding here on WAGB called…  Shiny Things! This will be a general category that we’ll use to let you know about book related things that we think are neat.

As an avid book lover and blog reader, I often enter some of the fabulous book contests that are offered on many of the great blogs I frequent.  And as a self proclaimed Twitter addict, I’m often participating in contests there as well. Occasionally, I’m even lucky enough to win some of these great prizes!! And that’s how I got my very first Shiny Things entry – courtesy of the wonderful Kelley Armstrong and one of her Twitter contests!

After seeing and replying to this tweet…

Admiring shiny 1st copy of Frostbitten. Want it? Reply via Twitter or comment via Facebook. Will choose winner @ noon & part w/ pretty book.

I was lucky enough to win an advance copy of Kelley’s upcoming novel Frostbitten, which features one of my very favorite characters – Elena the Werewolf! Let me tell you, my joy at winning the contest and the MUCH anticipated 10th novel in the Women of the Otherworld series, was only surpassed when I received the gorgeous novel and found that it was signed and came with three fabulous bookmarks!!

I’m currently only about 60 pages into Frostbitten, but I can already tell you that it’s FANTASTIC! It’s one of those stories that you hate having to put down so you can do all those pesky things like eat, sleep and go to work!

We often hear about how today’s society of DVR’s and video games is turning our children into glassy-eyed zombies, and that it’s hard to get your kids interested in anything else. I myself don’t have kids, but I do have two younger sisters that I am ALWAYS trying to get to read more. (Or at all depending on which of the two we’re talking about.) I’ve tried a variety of tactics – one likes Gossip Girl so I bought her the books, the other’s friends all went Twilight crazy so I bought her those books. She’s also animal crazy so I loaned her Marley & Me. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t, but I’m always on the lookout for new ways to get them to exercise their mind rather than their fingers (which given the amount of texting they do, must be the strongest parts of their bodies!). Which is why I wanted to share this article on 10 Ways to Make Reading Fun for Kids! that I found on Oprah’s Book Club.

Granted this list is directed at kids that are younger than my sisters, but I think there’s some great tips in there for anyone trying to encourage someone to read… like leave books on their favorite topics out where they’ll be tempted.  Anyway, Oprah often knows best, so check out this list on 10 Ways to Make Reading Fun for Kids! and then let us know if you found any great ideas in there. AND if you have any additional tips on getting teens (and 30-something men) to read more, we’d love to hear them. Just let us know in the comments below.

Haunted (Women of the Otherworld, Book 5)
by Kelley Armstrong

Haunted is the 5^th book in the Women of the Otherworld series, and once again we are treated to a new perspective as this story is told from Eve’s point of view.  Eve is a very likable character, and I enjoyed finally getting to know her (even though she’s dead!) but despite that, Haunted is my least favorite of the Otherworld novels so far.  I’ve mentioned in my previous reviews of this series that one of the things I love most about Kelley Armstrong’s writing is how she always manages to create a supernatural world that feels completely realistic.  And that’s why I had such a hard time with this story. The ghost world that Eve inhabits just doesn’t feel believable to me.  I know it’s contradictory to love a story populated with witches and werewolves but not one with ghosts, but the fact that it took me three weeks to finish this story indicates that it just wasn’t gripping me.  As with the all the other novels in the Women of the Otherworld series, Haunted is well written, the main characters are interesting and the dialogue flows smoothly, but with all the dimension jumping, time travel and random bit characters that kept popping up, the story never really came together for me.  But, for those wanting to know more about Savannah’s real mother, you probably don’t want to miss Haunted, although I do think this is one book in the series that could be skipped without missing too much.  Even though this wasn’t my favourite WotO story, I’m already onto Broken, the 6^th book in the series, and am thoroughly enjoying it!

We took a little Book Club break for the summer, but it’s September now, and just like the kids in school, we’re back with our books! And since it’s September, what better choice than a book about a Library? As if that’s not enough, it’s also got a cat that touched the world! With a description like that how could you not want to read it?

September’s WAGB Book Club selection is Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron and Bret Witter.

Just in case you’re still not convinced, here’s a bit more of a description for our September Book:

Her first thought upon hearing a strange sound coming from the book drop one frigid January morning was “this can’t be good.” In fact, for both the tiny kitten found shivering in the metal box’s corner and for Myron, director of the Spencer Public Library, the discovery was the best thing that ever happened to either of them, and to the tiny Iowa farming community beset by an unrelenting string of economic challenges. Filthy and frostbitten, the kitten was in dire need of massive doses of TLC; fortunately, the library staff, patrons, and townspeople had plenty to spare. The story of how a bedraggled orange fur ball became “Dewey”, an enchantingly irresistible library mascot capable of bringing international attention to a small mid-western town and melting the heart of even the most curmudgeonly visitor, is uplifting enough; but woven among the cute-cat anecdotes are Myron’s own inspirational stories of enduring welfare, the abuses of an alcoholic husband, breast cancer, and single motherhood. Myron’s beguiling, poignant, and tender tale of survival, loyalty, and love is an unforgettable study in the mysterious and wondrous ways animals, and libraries, enrich humanity. –Carol Haggas

We’re always looking for new people to join us in our book club, so PLEASE buy, borrow or beg yourself a copy of Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World and join us the week of September 28 to discuss it!

This week’s question of the week is inspired by my wanting to chat up the book I’m currently reading! But I also think this might be a question we come back to from time to time, because I also love hearing YOU guys chat about whatever book you might be enjoying right now too.

So please join us in the comments below and tell us all about What Book You’re Reading Right Now!

Me? I’m reading Rosemary and Rue, a great first novel by Seanan McGuire.

Rosemary and Rue tells the story of half-human/half-faerie, October ‘Toby’ Daye. When we first meet Toby, she is working as a PI, and ends up in an unfortunate situation that results in her desperately trying to leave the world of Faerie behind. But when a murder (complete with a curse) occurs in Toby’s old world, she is forced to return to her past as she attempts to bring justice to the killer.

I don’t want to give away any of the story, and I will review the book here soon, but here’s a few thoughts to whet your appetite… Toby is the type of character that you can’t help but thinking “I want to be friends with this girl!”, and the world of Faerie that Seanan has created is expertly woven and feels completely realistic despite being populated with supernatural beings.

I still have about 45 pages left in the book, so I don’t know how it ends, but I can tell you that I wish I was reading it right now so I could find out! For those who enjoy a well written and riveting fantasy story, check out Seanan McGuire’s Rosemary and Rue.

So there’s mine, now please tell us What Book Are You Reading Right Now?