Even though I’m far away, I wanted to make sure we still had a little Friday treat for everyone! This week’s Friday Freebie is one that I’m super excited about so I hope you’ll enjoy it too!

Those of you that have been following along know that I am head over heels for The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series by Michael Scott.  And those of you really paying attention will know that I’m anxiously awaiting the May 25 release of the 4^th book in this series, The Necromancer.

Well, being a Twitter stalker follower has its advantages! Michael Scott himself was nice enough to Tweet about a little preview of The Necromancer that Random House has made available. (Follow Michael Scott on Twitter @flamelauthor)

If you really cannot wait for The Necromancer (May 25th), here are the first five chapters. (Beware, some spoilers.) http://ow.ly/1y6Zy

Check out the first 5 chapters of The Necromancer here. And if you haven’t read this series yet, now is a great time to hop on board!

I’m off on my brief sojourn to the land of sunshine, but I hope you’ll spend some time looking around With a Good Book today! There’s plenty to talk about all around the site. Here’s a few of our recent discussions and posts of interest:

• Our monthly Book Club discussion of Return to the Hundred Acre Wood by David Benedictus is open and lonely for some comments!
• We’re looking for your thoughts and suggestions on great books to empower young women.
• We also want to know what kind of books you like to travel with.
• I’ve ranked my Top 5 favorite YA Fantasy Series, and I’d love to hear YOUR thoughts!
• DON’T FORGET to enter our giveaway for our June Book Club selection The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson! To learn more about this amazing book, check out my review.

I’m off on a little vacation tomorrow and like any bookaholic, selecting the books I’ll be taking with me is an important part of the packing process!  For the most part it’s easy – I just pack my Sony e-reader with a good selection of books on it and I’m set! But, for the actual air-travel portion of the trip I like to have a ‘plane-book’ with me.

What is a plane-book you ask?  Well, basically it’s a small, light-read book. Physically small and light so it’s easy to stash, read and hold while I’m juggling an armload of other stuff. With all the line-ups and waiting involved with flying, I like to be able to pull my book out and read in line, and don’t want to lug around anything too heavy. And I always pick something fluffy and easy to read because I find air travel very stressful, and you’re interrupted so often that I can’t get into anything too involved. I opt for a physical book because they don’t tell you to turn it off during the no electronics portion of the flight, and there’s no flicking it off and on when you’re reading for a minute here and there in between security checks.

My ‘plane-book’ for this trip will be The Titan’s Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #3) by Rick Riordan.  It fits all my criteria for a plane-book perfectly!

So, what kind of books do you like to travel with? Do you have preferences for the plane? The pool/beach? Do you bring extra books with you, or just one and buy more along the way if needed?

When I read that actress Elizabeth Berkley is writing a self-esteem book for young girls, my first thought was “Really? The girl who flaunted it in the controversial stripper movie is going to give advice to impressionable young girls??” I suppose her experiences may have left her with valuable advice to share, but personally I’m going to recommend girls try some of these fine examples of literature that empowers young women first.

Top 5 Glad to be a Girl Books

1. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series by Anne Brashares – These books make me want to run out and hug all my girlfriends! They show young women not to sacrifice their self-esteem for a boys attention, and teach them to follow their dreams no matter how big.
2. Little House Books by Laura Ingalls Wilder – Watch Laura grow into a strong young woman in a time when men had all the power.
3. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott – A true classic in which each of the March girls struggle to overcome a major character flaw in order to become better mothers, wives, sisters, and citizens.
4. Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia Wrede – Princess Cimorene leaves behind the antiquated ideas of the castle, and makes her own way in the Enchanted Forest. Silly, empowering fun for young girls.
5. Gutsy Girls: Young Women Who Dare by Tina Schwager and Michele Schuerger – 26 young women tell of their daring feats, from extreme sports to groundbreaking achievements. This inspiring book will provide good examples for any teen.
   

What do you think? Did I include your favorite? Miss any great ones? What are your Top 5 Books to empower Young Women?

Our Book Club selection for April was Return to the Hundred Acre Wood by David Benedictus.

I  chose Return to the Hundred Acre Wood for 0ur April Book Club selection because I was really in need of a fun, fluffy read after a very busy and stressful time at the office. I don’t know if I really got what I was expecting out of this one, but I guess you can’t win ‘em all.  There are no discussion questions available for this book (I assume that’s because kids books aren’t usually used for book clubs!) so you guys are going to have to work with these questions that I’ve come up with!

As always, we encourage veering off topic, so please feel free to bring up anything you would like to discuss about the book!

Here are our discussion questions for Return to the Hundred Acre Wood:

1. Did you enjoy Return to the Hundred Acre Wood? What did you like? What didn’t you like?
2. Are you familiar with A.A. Milne’s Classic Pooh stories? How do you feel this new volume compares to the original stories?
3. The book was borken down into 10 short stories, listed as chapters. Which was your favorite story/chapter? Which was your least favorite?
4. Would you recommend/read Return to the Hundred Acre Wood to a youngster in your life? What about to another adult?
5. Since we’re talking about children’s stories, what are some of your favorite kids books that you feel are comparable to (or better than) Return to the Hundred Acre Wood?
6. What are your thoughts on the new character Lottie the Otter?
7. Do you believe Return to the Hundred Acre Wood will become a classic?

Don’t forget, our top commenters on this discussion will receive a classic Winnie-the-Pooh bookmark! So be sure to stop by and share your thoughts!

This week’s Friday Freebie is another great giveaway! Because we really want YOU to join our Book Club, we’re going to GIVE one lucky reader a copy of The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson, which is our Book Club Selection for June 2010!

Due to a mailing snafu, I ended up getting a 2nd review copy of The Sky is Everywhere after I had already finished reading and reviewing the book. Now I’m going to take advantage of this opportunity to pass this wonderful book along to one of you! To learn more about The Sky is Everywhere, check out my review.

In order to be entered in the giveaway, simply comment and let us know about a great book club book that you’d enjoy discussing with fellow book lovers!

• For an extra entry comment on one of our past book club discussions if you’ve read the book. Comments must be about the content of the book! (Be sure to let us know which one you commented on so we can give you credit.)

• Post or tweet about this giveaway for another entry.

We very much hope that whoever is lucky enough to win the copy of The Sky is Everywhere, will join us in discussing the book when the time comes.

In order to ensure I get this book to winner in time to read it for the  June Book Club discussion, this is going to be a very short giveaway.  Deadline for entries is midnight on Sunday, May 2, 2010.

*Our sincerest apologies to readers outside North America, but due to high mailing costs, this giveaway is only open to those with Canadian or US mailing addresses.

Happy Friday Book Lovers! It’s time for another Book Blogger Hop!

This fantastic idea to help the large community of book bloggers around the web get to know each other, comes to us via Jennifer from Crazy-for-Books. Basically, the Hop is a weekly event hosted at Crazy-for-Books, where book bloggers and readers can connect to find new blogs to read. It’s a great way to network with other bloggers and make new friends!

The rules are simple – Add your link to MckLinky, POST ABOUT THE HOP ON YOUR BLOG, and start hopping around and visiting other links that are posted! If you start following someone through the Hop, leave a comment on their blog to let them know! And don’t forget, the idea is to HAVE FUN!!

So head on over to Crazy-for-Books to sign up and see who else is participating. And let’s do the Hop!

This is something we like to do over on the TV site (though I must admit to being very neglectful lately), and as I was reading Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary last night, I got to thinking about how this series is really rising in the ranks of my favorite fantasy series, and that made me want to do a Top 5!

Bookish Top 5’s will be something that we continue to do from time to time, but I think we’ll avoid making it a regular feature for now just to avoid the Top 5 burnout experienced with the TV Top 5’s.  But we always love suggestions, so if you have a Top 5 you’d like to see please let us know!

So, without further adieu, our first Bookish Top 5!

Top 5 YA Fantasy Series

1. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling – Like you didn’t all see that coming. I don’t even think I need to explain. Harry is the heart of my book love.
2. The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott – I discovered these books completely by accident, and am now hooked. I’ve been very impatiently awaiting the late May release of book #4 in this series.
3. The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini – Although the books are taking far too long to come out, these books  suck me in completely.
4. Fablehaven by Brandon Mull – I love all the characters in this series, and the stories continue to surprise me. It’s never predictable and always filled with great adventure.
5. Maximum Ride by James Patterson – This one can be a little over the top, but I’ve really grown to love Max and her flock of avian misfits. And with a great overall mystery, I’m always eager for more.

I had a hard time selecting that last one, The Darkest Powers trilogy was definitely a contender, but since it’s only 3 books I went with the longer Maximum Ride series.

Now, let’s hear your Top 5 YA Fantasy series! Please share your choices in the comments below.

Psych: A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Read
by William Rabkin

Synopsis
After the PSYCH detective agency gets some top-notch publicity, Shawn’s high-school nemesis, Dallas Steele, hires him to help choose his investments. Naturally, their predictions turn out to be total busts. And the deceptive Dallas is thrilled that he has completely discredited and humiliated Shawn once and for all—until he’s found murdered. But the police have a suspect – found at the scene with a smoking gun. And she says Shawn took control of her mind and forced her to do it. After all, he is a psychic…

Review
This is going to be short and sweet – well, not so sweet really but definitely short. I picked this book up last year after being pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the first Burn Notice tie-in novel, The Fix. I had high hopes. Granted, the two books had entirely different authors but William Rabkin had actually written an episode of Psych back in season one. Surely he’d do a good job capturing the essence of these characters I love so much, right?

Wrong. Or maybe right. But, man, if this book is indicative of what these characters are really like inside their heads… Well, I’d rather stick with my interpretation of them. Because, while they sure sounded like my favorite characters and I do think he did a good job with their voices when it came to dialog (and there are lots of laughs too), I hated his take on their motivation for doing things, etc. I’ve seen people complain about Shawn being a jerk on the show and I’m guessing those people have the same view on Shawn’s actions as Rabkin.

Verdict
I finished the book but not happily and it didn’t take me long to decide I’d be skipping all future Psych tie-in novels. I will say that the Amazon reviews are all fairly positive so it may just be that I have a more idealized version of these characters in my head. But I’d caution fellow fans to try reading a chapter or two of the book before actually purchasing.

Summer is can be a busy time, and it’s often when we consume the most books.  Since it’s always helpful to plan ahead, I’ve selected our Book Club picks for the rest of the summer. This way you can work these books into your summer reading, and since library books sometimes need to be requested in advance, hopefully this will make it even easier for everyone to join us in the With a Good Book Club throughout the summer.

May: Get Lucky by Catherine Center – We loved Everyone is Beautiful so much, I thought we should definitely give Get Lucky a try! And I absolutely cannot wait any longer to read it, so this one is up first!

June: The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson – I just finished this fantastic book by debut author Nelson, and I was so moved that I actually hugged the book for a minute when I was finished. I just have to share it with all of you, so we’re also giving away a copy of this one (stay tuned for giveaway post)! I can’t wait to be able to discuss The Sky is Everywhere with fellow book lovers.

July: Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink – Twin sisters, one good, one evil. A prophecy, a mystery! This one has won a variety of awards and I think it looks fantastic! I saved it for July as it comes out in paperback July 1, so it should be readily available.

August: Sunday’s at Tiffany’s by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet – A nice romantic beach-y read to finish off our summer.  A love story with an irresistible twist, Sunday’s at Tiffany’s is a novel about the child inside all of us-and the boundary-crossing power of love. After becoming obsessed with Patterson’s YA series, I’m hoping his adult novels will be as captivating!

I really hope you will join us in reading and discussing these great books over the summer. We look forward to reading a good book with you!