Sharing Holiday Messages with Heroes

It’s that time of year again! The American Red Cross and Pitney Bowes have teamed up for the fourth annual Holiday Mail for Heroes program.

From now until December 10th you are invited to send holiday cards to our American service members, their families, and veterans all over the world. Anyone can send a card and you can send as many as you would like! Please send all cards to:

Holiday Mail for Heroes PO Box 5456 Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456

The deadline for this year is December 10th. Unfortunately, if your cards are not postmarked by December 10th they cannot be delivered. After Pitney Bowes collects and screens the mail received in the PO Box, Red Cross workers deliver holiday greetings to service men and women in their communities. If you have multiple cards you can put them all together in one large envelope rather than posting individually. Just leave the individual envelopes unsealed, so the cards can be screened easily.

This is such a great way to give back and show how much we care for and support those working daily to insure our safety and freedom. And what a fantastic opportunity to get kids involved, whether it's in your own family, at your children's clubs or in their classrooms. Please consider participating this year!

Check out how our uniformed men and women and their families expressed their gratitude for the Holiday Mail program when it delivered cards to Walter Reed Army Medical Center:

And the "Safe Haven" Winners Are....

Sorry for the delay in announcing the three winners of Nicholas Sparks' recent release, "Safe Haven." I attended a writers' conference over the weekend and my energy was intensely focused on networking and writing workshops.

Thanks to everyone who entered this contest! Be sure to come back soon for another new release contest.

And finally, the winners of this book are:

• Chrissy

• KitKat

• Inspired Kathy

Please email me at christina@christinaarbini.com with your mailing address, so I can forward it to the publisher who will ship your book directly to you. Thanks again for entering!

A "Safe Haven" Book Giveaway Contest

A love story laced with secrets, danger and twists in one woman's quest for a safe haven. I'm excited to post a new blog contest, featuring Nicholas Sparks' recent release, "Safe Haven,"

published by Grand Central Publishing and distributed by Hatchette Book Group.

About the Book:

When a mysterious young woman named Katie appears in the small North Carolina town of Southport, her sudden arrival raises questions about her past. Beautiful yet self-effacing, Katie seems determined to avoid forming personal ties until a series of events draws her into two reluctant relationships: one with Alex, a widowed store owner with a kind heart and two young children; and another with her plainspoken single neighbor, Jo. Despite her reservations, Katie slowly begins to let down her guard, putting down roots in the close-knit community and becoming increasingly attached to Alex and his family. But even as Katie begins to fall in love, she struggles with the dark secret that still haunts and terrifies her . . . a past that set her on a fearful, shattering journey across the country, to the sheltered oasis of Southport. With Jo's empathic and stubborn support, Katie eventually realizes that she must choose between a life of transient safety and one of riskier rewards . . . and that in the darkest hour, love is the only true safe haven.

This is the perfect book to curl up with as the days turn shorter and the nights turn darker. It will warm you with its story about learning to trust love again, and at the same time run a chill down your spine as the heroine tries to juggle frightening secrets that threaten every step she takes.

I'm excited to be offering THREE copies of this book to the lucky winners whose names I draw on Friday, 10/1 (only U.S. and Canada entries, please). All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this blog post. Please include your email, so I can contact you if you're a winner. Good luck!

Popularity Is The Best Revenge

Popularity is the best revenge. Or so says Lauren Wood's ex-BFF. "Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood" is a new Young Adult novel written by Eileen Cook and set to hit book shelves in stores near you next week.

Book Description

In the final weeks of eighth grade, Lauren Wood made a choice. She betrayed her best friend, Helen, in a manner so publicly humiliating that Helen had to move to a new town just to save face. Ditching Helen was worth it, though, because Lauren started high school as one of the It Girls--and now, at the start of her senior year, she's the cheerleading captain, the quarterback's girlfriend, and the undisputed queen bee. Lauren has everything she's ever wanted, and she has forgotten all about her ex-best friend.

But Helen could never forget Lauren. After three years of obsessing, she's moving back to her old town. She has a new name and a new look, but she hasn’t dropped her old grudges. She has a detailed plan to bring down her former BFF by taking away everything that's ever been important to Lauren—starting with her boyfriend.

Watch out, Lauren Wood. Things are about to get bitchy.

And I just had to share a great promo Eileen has created for this book starring the fictional Lauren Wood.

And the "City of Veils" Winners Are....

Thanks again to everyone who entered to win one of three copies of Zoë Ferraris' newest release, "City of Veils." If I didn't draw your name, I still hope you consider picking up a copy of this book!

And the winners are:

• Lori

• Eileen

• Rachel

Please email me at christina@christinaarbini.com with your mailing address, so I can have the publisher ship your book directly to you.

And as always, be sure to stick around for more great book contests and some entertaining posts. :-)

September Book Giveaway Contest

We’re switching it up a bit this month with the book giveaway. While darker than the recent books I’ve featured on my blog, this new release centers on strong women dealing with a culture notorious for expecting women to be quiet and unassuming. The setting: the clandestine underworld of the Middle East. The plot: a murder mystery where the female protagonist isn’t just battling the local police in her quest for justice, but also her own culture’s iron-fisted discriminatory views.

About the Book (from Amazon.com): Women in Saudi Arabia are expected to lead quiet lives circumscribed by Islamic law and tradition. But Katya, one of the few women in the medical examiner's office, is determined to make her work mean something.

When the body of a brutally beaten woman is found on the beach in Jeddah, the city's detectives are ready to dismiss the case as another unsolvable murder-chillingly common in a city where the veils of conservative Islam keep women as anonymous in life as the victim is in death. If this is another housemaid killed by her employer, finding the culprit will be all but impossible.

Only Katya is convinced that the victim can be identified and her killer found. She calls upon her friend Nayir for help, and soon discovers that the dead girl was a young filmmaker named Leila, whose controversial documentaries earned her many enemies.

With only the woman's clandestine footage as a guide, Katya and Nayir must confront the dark side of Jeddah that Leila struggled to expose: an underworld of prostitution, violence, exploitation, and jealously guarded secrets. Along the way, they form an unlikely alliance with an American woman whose husband has disappeared. Their growing search takes them from the city's car-clogged streets to the deadly vastness of the desert beyond.

In CITY OF VEILS, award-winning author Zoë Ferraris combines a thrilling, fast-paced mystery with a rare and intimate look into women's lives in the Middle East.

About the Author: Zoë Ferraris moved to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in the aftermath of the first Gulf War. She lived in a conservative Muslim community with her then-husband and his family, a group of Saudi-Palestinians. In 2006, she completed her MFA in Fiction at Columbia University. Her debut novel, “Finding Nouf” (published as Night of the Mi'raj in the UK) is now being published in twenty-five countries. A follow-up novel, “City of Veils,” was released August, 2010. She currently lives in San Francisco.

I will be drawing THREE winners on Friday, September 10^th. To enter, just leave a comment on this blog post (US and Canada entries only, please). Please remember to leave your email, so I have a means of contacting you if you are a winner.

Good luck!

Winners of "She's Gone Country"

Thanks so much to everyone who entered the contest to win a copy of Jane Porter's newest release, "She's Gone Country." We had a great turnout!

The five winners are:

• Mary N.

• Marion Spicher

• Monie

• Finny

• Carol N. Wong

If you weren't one of the winners this time, I highly encourage you to pick up a copy of this book. Better yet, you can purchase your own signed copy from Jane at a couple of upcoming local book signings:

• September 9th at the Bellevue Barnes & Noble (5:30pm)

• October 2nd at the Emerald City Writers' Conference book fair (open to the public) at the Bellevue Hilton Hotel (4:00-6:00pm)

And please be sure to hang around my blog! I'll be posting another book giveaway contest very soon. We'll be going a little darker with another new release, intriguing destination, suspense novel.

August Book Giveaway Contest

I’m excited to announce my next book giveaway contest because not only is it a new women’s fiction novel (hitting the shelves on 8/23), it was also written by one of my friends. “She’s Gone Country” by Jane Porter is an entertaining tale of a modern-day woman who has led a charmed life in New York City and is now forced to reinvent herself by moving back to her hometown in Texas after her marriage falls apart.

I’ve known Jane for many years now – as fellow author and more importantly, as a friend – and I have never been disappointed with her work. And “She’s Gone Country” is no exception! Jane’s books will touch you, leaving you feeling as though her characters are some of your closest friends. She reaches an emotional depth with her writing that draws you in from the first page and grasps onto your heart, holding on throughout the book’s entirety. “She’s Gone Country” is a story about reinventing oneself when life takes a detour. It’s a story about losing the life you know, and finding the courage to rebuild it even stronger by tackling challenges and taking chances along the way. It’s about a woman finding her place…her role…as a mother, a daughter, a sister, and rediscovering herself along the way. Something to which every woman can relate.

Description: Shey Darcy, a 39-year-old former top model for Vogue and Sports Illustrated led a charmed life in New York City with a handsome photographer husband until the day he announced he'd fallen in love with someone else. Left to pick up the pieces of her once happy world, Shey decides to move back home to Texas with her three teenage sons. Life on the family ranch, however, brings with it a whole new host of dramas starting with differences of opinion with her staunch Southern Baptist mother, her rugged but overprotective brothers, and daily battles with her three sons who are also struggling to find themselves. Add to the mix Shey's ex-crush, Dane Kelly, a national bullriding champ and she's got her hands full. It doesn't take long before Shey realizes that in order to reinvent herself, she must let go of an uncertain future and a broken past, to find happiness--and maybe love--in the present.

Above all, I’m thrilled to be able to giveaway FIVE copies of “She’s Gone Country!” All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this blog post (only U.S. and Canada entries). Please be sure to leave your email, so I can contact you if I draw your name as a winner. Winning names will be drawn and announced on Friday, August 27^th.

About the Author: Jane Porter lives in Seattle, Washington, with her three children. She is also the author of “Easy on the Eyes,” “Mrs. Perfect,” “Odd Mom Out,” “Flirting with Forty,” and “The Frog Prince.”

(Jane Porter and me)

And the July Winners Are....

Thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway of Anne Zouroudi's mystery, "The Messenger of Athens." For those of you who's name I didn't draw, I hope you consider picking up a copy.

Congratulations to the winners of "The Messenger of Athens:"

• Andie

• Bellevue Brenda

• Carol Wong

Please email me (christina@christinaarbini.com) with your mailing address for shipping your book!

And don't worry, you have another chance to win with my next book promo and giveaway soon.The next book will be a new release women's fiction novel, which will then be followed shortly thereafter by another intriguing mystery novel giveaway. Many more chances to win some great books!

July Book Giveaway Contest

I'm excited to announce the next book giveaway contest — this one a bit of a departure from the typical women's fiction novels I've been featuring. Written by Anne Zouroudi, "The Messenger of Athens" has been described as a literary mystery novel that is set on a lush Greek island. This is the first book of a series by Zouroudi based on the seven deadly sins.

About the book:

Idyllic but remote, the Greek Island of Thiminos seems untouched and untroubled by the modern world. So when the battered body of a young woman is discovered at the foot of a cliff, the local police—governed more by archaic rules of honor than by the law—are quick to close the case, dismissing her death as an accident.

Then a stranger arrives, uninvited from Athens, announcing his intentions to investigate the crime he believes has been committed. Refusing to accept the woman’s death as an accident or suicide, Hermes Diaktoros sets out to uncover the truths that skulk beneath this small community’s exterior.

Hermes’ methods of investigation are unorthodox, and his message to the islanders is plain: tell the truth or face the consequences. Before long, he’s uncovering a tale of passion, corruption, and murder that entangles many of the island’s residents. But Hermes brings his own mystery into the web of dark secrets and lies—and as he travels the rugged island landscape to investigate, questions and suspicions arise among the locals. Who has sent him the Thiminos, and on whose authority is he acting? And how does he know of dramas played out decades ago?

Rich in images of Greece’s beautiful islands and evoking an life unknown to most outsiders, this wonderful novels leads the reader into a world where the myths of the past are not forgotten and forbidden passion still has dangerous consequences.

About the author:

Anne Zouroudi was born in England and has lived in the Greek islands. Her attachment to Greece remains strong, and the country is the inspiration for much of her writing; She is the author of the forthcoming novels "The Taint of Midas," also featuring Hermes Diaktoros. She now lives in northern England.

As per my other contests, all you have to do to enter to win one of THREE copies of "The Messenger of Athens" is to leave a comment on this blog post. US and Canada entries only, please. I will be drawing the three winning names on Friday morning (7/16). Please be sure to put your email in your comment, so I can contact you if you are a winner.