So, I should be writing a review of Whistling in the Dark, but I've got so many other things swirling around in my head that I had to get them out. Here goes:

- Like you, I've been seeing tons of posts about CSN Stores. The company, which sells a huge variety of products - lighting, bookshelves, home decor, furniture, etc. has been tremendously generous to bloggers. I was slightly bummed that I hadn't been contacted by them ... and then, voila! I got an email offering me the chance to review one of their products. How ecstatic am I? Very ecstatic! CSN has such a variety - how am I ever going to choose a product? When I do, you'll be the first ones to know. Stay tuned for my review. In the meantime, click on over and check out all the goodies at CSN.

2. Although I have been bungee jumping, thank you very much. My older brother owned a bungee jumping company when I was in high school, so my younger brother and I both jumped out of his hot air balloon. It was a rush.

3. I'm not very daring in the food department either, although a year spent in The Philippines as an exchange student did broaden my culinary horizons quite considerably. I've eaten delicacies like dog, pig's brain, monkey, goat and nimbalut (you don't want to know, trust me). Okay, the curious can read all about it here. It should be noted that these dishes are not eaten often by the average Filipino. They were prepared for me because I am a gullible American.

4. I cannot sneak up on people. I have weak ankles that pop constantly. This put me at a distinct disadvantage when dealing with three brothers.

5. The same brother who convinced me to jump out of a hot air balloon used to roll me up in blankets, cinch a belt around my waist and tickle my toes 'til I cried. I'm still traumatized.

6. Back to food - my husband thinks I'm weird because I like soft ice cream. Not machine-soft ice cream, but hard ice cream softened. I've been known to pop a carton in the microwave if it's too hard.

7. Phew! That was hard. I think I am officially the most boring person in the blogosphere!

- Hm, was that it? I swear there was something else I was going to tell you. Oh well. Happy Reading!

Nothing tickles my literary fancy quite like a good, old-fashioned family secrets novel. Especially one set in the South. Everything just seems more sinister when hidden behind soft drawls, magnolia-scented breezes and Tara-esque plantations, you know? I mean, you expect malevolence from broody northern climes and everyone knows how lawless things are out here in the west, but in the land of blushing belles and Southern gentleman - well, the appearance of evil is always surprising. Add in a spunky kid narrator, some quirky sidekicks and a nice, curvy plot, and voila! You've just created my absolute favorite kind of book. It's really no surprise, then, that I fell so hard for Lesley Kagen's spellbinding new novel, Tomorrow River.
Our heroine is Shenandoah "Shenny" Carmody, one of the the 11-year-old daughters of the most prominent man in town. Her family might as well be royalty in Rockbridge County, Virginia, for all their wealth and power. At least that's how things look from the outside. On closer inspection, one might notice what Shenny does - things are not exactly what they seem. The family's rambling mansion is looking decidedly grubby, the lady of the house is nowhere to be seen, His Honor's reeling in a manner unbefitting a man of his station, and his twins, well, something about the one is just a little off. An even closer look - assuming, of course, that prying eyes could get actually get anywhere near the property - would reveal that whatever is wrong over to the Carmody place is no small thing.
Ever since the disappearance of her mother, Shenny's been noticing things, things she'd never considered before. Things about her family. Troubling things. All she wants is for everything to go back to normal, the way it was when she spent her afternoons giggling with her sister in the treehouse, listening to her mother sing in the kitchen, and waiting breathlessly for nightfall, prime stargazing time for her and her daddy. But those carefree days are gone, vanished as surely as Evie Carmody. Shenny's twin, Woody, no longer giggles - she doesn't talk anymore, either. And His Honor? Well, when he's drunk (and when isn't he, these days?), he's disorderly. In the calmest, most terrifying way possible. The only way for Shenny to remedy the situation is to figure out what happened to her mother. Her own memories of that fateful night are sketchy, but someone has to know something. As she makes the rounds through her mother's motley collection of friends, Shenny comes to realize that the person most likely to know the truth is also the one least likely to say anything at all - her mute twin.
As desperate as Shenny is to find her mother, others are just as happy to shove the unpleasantness behind them. Evie Carmody was a Northerner, after all, a foreigner who didn't even know enough to stay away from "the help." Whatever happened to her - well, maybe it was for the best. There's the Carmody image to think of, after all. There's just one niggling question, the thing that bugs Shenny most of all, especially considering what she now knows about the Carmody clan: If her mother was going to leave, why oh why, did she leave her beloved girls behind?
I don't know about Kagen's other novels (although you better believe I'll be getting my hands on both Whistling in the Dark and Land of a Hundred Wonders just as soon as I'm able), but her latest blends all my favorite elements into one taut, riveting thriller. Intensity isn't all the book has going for it, though. Woven through all the mystery is a coming-of-age story that's both funny and surprisingly tender. Pitting the innocence of youth against an aged evil works to near perfection here, creating the kind of book that you will simply not be able to put down. You can try, but in the end, you'll cave and devour it in one sitting. I guarantee it.
(Readalikes: Whistling in the Dark by Lesley Kagen; Karen White's books, The Lost Hours and The Memory of Water come to mind.)
Grade: A
If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG-13 for violence, mature themes and sexual innuendo
To the FTC, with love: I received Tomorrow River from the generous folks at Dutton. Thank you!

Well, my first Bloggiesta didn't turn out quite the way I planned. It fell on a weekend that turned out to be more demanding than I thought it would be (the fact that I had to prepare and teach a Sunday School lesson [the Ten Commandments, Jeopardy-style] to a dozen rambunctious 9-year-olds; finish up an LDSFSA newsletter that was due about two months ago; rally the troops to help clean my very messy 5,000 square foot house; and run errands that I'd been avoiding since my van decided to be finicky about how many times a week it actually starts; should probably have been a clue), leaving me feeling so fatigued that I fell asleep around 7:30 last night. So, yeah, I didn't quite accomplish the goals that I set in response to the mini-challenge hosted by Kim and Jackie at the Blog Improvement Project blog . Here's what I tried to do:

- Update blog roll - This is the main thing I wanted to accomplish and ... I did it. Woot! It took me a good 2 hours to delete dead links, add new ones from my Google feeder, change URLs, etc. I also realized that I'll never be completely done with this project, as I'm always finding new book blogs to add to my list. If I missed your link, and you want your blog on my list (and who wouldn't?), please let me know!

- Link up reviews for "Baby Steps Authors," "LDS Authors," "Arizona Authors," and "Back to School Authors" - Another thing I've been meaning to do for quite some time. It was a bit tedious, but I got this done, too. It took me around 40 minutes.

- Update review schedule - This would have taken me all of 30 seconds, but I still haven't done it. Yo soy un(a?) slacker.

- Create BBB Facebook page and add link - I actually made a page weeks ago, it's just blank. I'll finish this one another day.

- Add new review books to Google spreadsheet - My spreadsheet was actually pretty up-to-date, so doing this only took me about 5 minutes.

- Update "My Kids Recommend" section - I had planned to add pictures of each kid, along with their favorite books. It didn't happen. Another time.

- Create a BBAW post with links to best posts - I'm still stewing over which posts are my best. I also feel extremely awkward about "nominating" myself for an award. I'll get around to it one of these days.

I also did the review policy mini-challenge and wrote a review that will go up tomorrow.

Total time spent on Bloggiesta: a piddly 5 hours

All in all, I feel like I accomplished something, even though I didn't do everything I planned. Really thinking about my blog also made me realize that I'm pretty happy with it. Obviously, there's always room for improvement, but I'm proud of what I've created here at BBB. What changes would you suggest? What would you like to see more/less of?

Thanks to Natasha over at Maw Books for hosting Bloggiesta 2010. 'Til next time - adios!