Day: June 9, 2011

Les Roberts Giveaway

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In my most recent Sundays with Gage post I mentioned that I had been able to go to a meet & greet with mystery writer Les Roberts.  Here’s the post I wrote about a book signing I attending in 2008 (Les Roberts Books Signing)

I have since read the first 5 in the series and love them.  I am hoping that you will fall in love with Milan (and Cleveland) too, so I’m giving away one signed Les Roberts book – you choose.  If you are new to the series I say start with the first one, Pepper Pike (a suburb 10 minutes from my house).

A few fun facts about Les…he’s from Chicago, lived and wrote in Los Angeles before coming to Cleveland for a 4 month job and deciding this was the place he felt at home, so he packed up and moved here!  For all the flack Cleveland gets it’s nice to see some love 🙂  Also, when a local group askes him for a donation he sells a character name for charity.  The next silent auction I attend you can be sure I’ll be looking for that!  In his most recent book four people bought their way in.  He makes very clear that all of his characters are corrupt and there’s no way to know what will happen to your character.

I’ll be drawing a winner at noon on Friday.  You can leave your name andd email on this post OR my Sundays with Gage post to enter.  Good luck~

Les Roberts wesite here.

The Last Time I Saw You, by Elizabeth Berg

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The Last Time I Saw You: A NovelFinished audio 5-26-11, rating 3.5/5, fiction, pub. 2010

Unabridged audio 8+ hours.  Read by the author.

Four classmates are about to attend their 40th high school reunion.  One is going to land the jock who got away, one is going because he wants his soon-to-be ex-wife to see that they can recapture the good years, one is going because his secretary is making him, the invisible girl is returning for a chance at redemption, and the beautiful one is showing up to live before she dies.  None of them gets exactly what they expected, but they all go home changed.

I liked high school.  I was not the most popular, but I was involved in a lot of activities and I had a few friends I really loved (and still do). I am class secretary so it’s my job to find everyone when reunion time comes around and this past year Facebook made it a while lot easier.  Last October, on the night of our 20th reunion, I checked into the hospital to have a baby.  Seriously, when I think of it, I laugh.  I never thought I’d be having my first baby 20 years later.  I always thought I wanted five kids.  Not only does this sound insane, but a little like overkill now that I have one 🙂

So, this book came at a good time for me.  It is easy to take the time of your reunion (whether you attend or not) to reflect on your high school self and how, if at all, you’ve changed.  And, when you walk into the reunion is everyone seeing you as the 18-year-old you were or the person you’ve become?

I liked the book, but wish it would have focused on less that five people.  The book was too short to get really involved, but I did enjoy the time I spent with them and the people they represented in my own school days.  I thought it was a fun way to take another look at the roles we all played in high school.

As always, I love listening to Elizabeth Berg read her own novels.

I checked this audio out of the library.