It's my...2 year blogiversary!! [+ Baby Faces]

It's been 2 years since I started this blog, and things sure have changed a lot since then. I've discovered an amazing community full of very giving, entertaining and enthusiastic writer blogger people, and I feel so very blessed to be part of this community. THANK YOU to everyone who has visited me here - I'm glad to know you!

Today I'm sharing details of a giveaway I'm hosting (see below), but first it's time for my Baby Faces post, in which I shall share with you some of my baby pics. Danette's post reminded me that I should probably include the requirements again, just as a last-minute reminder. So here they are:

What are the requirements? 

1. Between December 2nd and 3rd, post a pic of yourself as a baby, and/or;
2. Tell us a story about when you were a baby (no doubt you can't quite remember it yourself, but you've probably heard some stories from other members of your family).

You can choose to do one or the other or both, depending on your mood on the day(s). ;)

And now for my pictures! I think these were taken in a photo booth, and I know we were still living in the UK at the time. You can see my Dad's hands holding me up:

And my personal favourite...

I've always been a face puller, clearly even since babyhood. In recent years a friend told me she looks at these pics whenever she feels down, 'cause they make her laugh. ;) Okay, that's it for my baby faces post/story, but be sure to check out the other blogs participating in this hop (I can't wait to! I've seen that some of you have posted already, and I'll be there to check out your baby faces shortly!):

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BOOK GIVEAWAY

I am not a great contest hoster, as most of you know already, but today I want to give something back for sure, so I am giving away these prizes:

1. 1st prize - any 1 book from my selections below, or a book of your own choice, from the Book Depository (value = $10)
2. 2nd prize - any eBook(s) written by one of our author friends who comments on this post (value = $5)
3. 3rd prize - an ebook of your choice (value = $3).

All winners can also opt to receive a Christmas card from me via snail mail, if they are interested. :)

My book choices for first prize are:

• Dean Koontz's TWILIGHT EYES (my fave DK book and one of my fave books of all time. There should have been a sequel!!)
• Rachel Hawkins's HEX HALL (book #1 in a series, just FYI)
• Jesse Kellerman's THE BRUTAL ART
• John Marsden's TOMORROW, WHEN THE WAR BEGAN (again, book #1 in a - completely - epic series)

These books are all ones that I've read and absolutely loved.

So, leave a comment below if you want to be in it to potentially win it, and I will draw winner(s) in a week.

In closing, thanks once again to all the folks who read my blog and especially to those who leave the occasional (or much more than occasional!) comment. I love that I've met you guys and I wouldn't have it any other way. ;)

The Brutal Art - Jesse Kellerman

If you check my Goals page you will see that I have read 7/25 books for the year (yes, my goal for reading is only 25 books...I'm setting the bar low, in the hopes that I can leap very far over it). The latest completed read was Jesse Kellerman's The Brutal Art. Below are my comments, which I have tried to keep spoiler-free, and which therefore may or may not make any sense at all to the reader.

The Kellerman family is of course famous for it's work, but I must confess I haven't read much of their stuff. In fact, I'm not sure if I've ever read any before this.

From the description on the back of the book, I expected something a little different - a classic murder mystery, you know? But I was happily surprised by this book. Not that I don't like murder mysteries. But yeah, this was different to what I expected. I guess I didn't expect it to be as well-written as it was, or as compelling. It's not your typical "omg character is about to die arrgh who's gonna save him?!" murder mystery. It was more a family saga, and the murder aspect was almost incidental.

What I like about our main guy, Ethan Muller, is that he's very far from perfect. He's flawed and he knows it. He definitely grows as a person across the span of the book, and comes to accept that he's always going to be just a little bit ordinary, compared to the geniuses of the world. And he comes to the conclusion that being ordinary isn't a terrible thing. I think he grows up by the end of the book.

The story kept me guessing a lot of the time, and I liked that my guesses turned out to be completely off the mark. I was trying to guess what was happening to Ethan but was also trying to predict what revelations would come about the Muller family history. There was that magical moment in one of the "interludes" when a certain surname was spoken, and at that moment things began to fall into place. That was the moment in the novel that made me gasp.

In case you haven't noticed already, I don't really write book reviews - not properly, anyway. I just like to talk about the books I've read, and I'll say whatever pops into my head.

Which is what I just did!