Thomas Nelson; 352 pages; $15.99; Buy Link; Blog Tour

Originally, I wasn't planning on signing up to review "The Things We Knew" by Catherine West after I had received the blog tour announcement from LitFuse, mostly because the cover art just didn't appeal to me. It looked like it was a contemporary novel with a beach setting. Before I attempted to delete the email, I went ahead and read the synopsis. To my surprise, it caught my interest, so I signed up to review the novel.

The Things We Knew centers on Lynette Carlisle, a young woman who was left with the responsibility of taking care of her father after her four older siblings had left their Nantucket home with no plans of ever returning. Their mother had died twelve-years ago and that tragic event still haunts them.


Just as her father's health, as well as their income, begins to fail, a familiar face from the past returns - Nicholas Cooper, who she once had a crush on.

After being away for five years, Nicholas has returned to Nantucket to work at his father's bank, but he's also there for another reason - to restart his friendship with Lynette. Plus, he's also there to help unlock the secret behind Lynette's mother's death; a secret that might in fact tear them apart.

NOT RATED; 174 minutes; $14.98; Amazon

When you hear the name Titanic, many us probably think of the James Cameron's 1997 Oscar-winning blockbuster starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. However, over a year before it's release there was a two-part miniseries called "The Titanic" that aired on CBS. Directed by Robert Lieberman, the mini-series starred Peter Gallagher, George C. Scott, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Eva Marie Saint, Tim Curry and Marilu Henner.

The Titanic: The Epic Mini-series Event is finally available on Blu-ray and DVD from Mill Creek Entertainment.

Similar to the 1997 film, The Titanic is a romantic-disaster movie, just with a much smaller budget. This story centers on four different characters, Isabella Paradine (played by Catherine Zeta-Jones), Wynn Park (played by Peter Gallagher), Jamie Perse (played by Mike Doyle) and Aase Ludvigsen (played by Sonsee Ahray).

Jamie is a young thief who steals himself a ticket on the fatal Titanic voyage, taking on a new identity to start a new life. There he meets the very religious Aase and the two quickly fall in love (Sounds familiar!). Unfortunately, Jamie's old criminal pal, Simon Doonan (played by Tim Curry) is working on the ship, and he wants Jamie to help him steal from rich passengers.

TV-MA; 294 minutes; $49.99 - Blu-ray; $39.98 - DVD

Arriving on DVD and Blu-ray tomorrow from Anchor Bay Entertainment is Ash vs Evil Dead: The Complete First Season, featuring all 10 episodes from the hit STARZ Original series. 

Set 30 years after the original Evil Dead trilogy, Bruce Campbell returns as Ashley "Ash" Williams, the hero from film series. Despite being a little older, he's still the same old Ash with the same dead end job as a stock boy. 

After a drunken night trying to impress a woman, he accidentally recites the incantation from the Book of the Dead and unleashes the Kandarian Demon, again. Of course, Ash is determined to fix his deadly mistake by seeking out a book dealer who might be able to read the Necronomicon, but with the evil awaiting for him around ever corner, he going to need some help this time.

Yep, this time Ash has two sidekicks - Pablo Simon Bolivar (played by Ray Santiago), a young co-worker who thinks Ash is a hero, and Kelly Maxwell (played by Dana DeLorenzo), a new co-worker who was just trying to get home to her father, but ends up tagging along with Ash.

With his house trailer attached to his Oldsmobile, Ash, Pablo and Kelly head out to stop the Kandarain Demon, if they can outrun a state trooper, Amanda Fisher (played by Jill Marie Jones) and a stranger named Ruby (played by Lucy Lawless), who will do anything to get a hold of the Necronomicon.

If you want schedule next week's post, click here to find the next prompt question. To submit a question, fill out this form.

What to do:

1. Post on your blog answering this question:

  This week's question is submitted by Teri @ Sportochick's Musings!

Do you read via eBook and if so which one/ones and why?

2. Enter the link to your post in the linky list below (enter your Blog Name and the direct link to your post answering this week’s question. Failure to do so will result in removal of your link).


3. Visit other blogs in the list and comment on their posts. Try to spend some time on the blogs reading other posts and possible become a new follower.  The purpose of the hop is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.

  

My Answer: 

 While I prefer to read printed books, I do occasionally read eBooks on my Kindle.

Tyndale; 420 pages; $15.99; Amazon

Who hasn't heard of Ben-Hur before?

I recall trying to watch the 1959 classic starring Charlton Heston when I was teenager, but I found it to be boring. I believe I actually fell asleep while watching it. I was well aware that the film was based on the 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale Of The Christ by Lee Wallace, however I never attempted to read it as I thought it would be just as boring as the movie.

If you aren't already aware of it, the remake of Beh-Hur is arriving in theaters today starring Jack Huston in the title role. Despite the obvious CGI overload from the trailers, the movie looks like it might be mildly entertaining.

To tie-in with the remake's release, Tyndale Fiction has recently released a new version of Ben-Hur: A Tale Of The Christ, which has been rewritten by Carol Wallace, the great-great granddaughter of Lee Wallace.

The novel centers on Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish nobleman who is betrayed by a childhood friend, Messala. He is falsely accused of attempting to kill a Roman governor and  is sentenced to five years on a Roman slave ship. Eventually, he would seek his revenge by entering in the huge chariot race against Messala.

Crooked Lane; $25.99; 304 pages; Amazon

I had first heard about the Anna Carlisle's debut novel a few months ago when I saw it in a Doubleday Book Club flyer (Yes, this club is still around!). I was intrigued by the cover art from the get-go, but after reading the blurb, I knew I wanted to review the book.

Dark Road Home centers Virginia "Gin" Sullivan, a medical examiner who gets a shocking call from her old high school boyfriend, Jake, informing her that the body of her younger sister, Lily, was found in the woods buried inside a cooler.

Lily had gone missing in 1998. While there several suspects (including Jake), nobody was ever connected to her disappearance.

Gin quickly packs her bags and travels back to her hometown of Trumbull to be with her parents. Of course she has another agenda up her sleeve, she wants to lend her medical skills to help the local authorities find the killer.

Several twists and turns occur, along with another murder, which leads Gin to unravel a startling dark secret from her family's past.

Harvest House; 224 pages; $12.99; Buy Link; Blog Tour

Though I do like all animals, I am more of a cat lover than a dog lover. Nevertheless, I went ahead and signed up to review Fetching Sweetness by Dana Mentink through the Litfuse Publicity. Honestly, I wasn't very intrigued by the cover art, but after reading the blurb, I did become interested in reading it.

Fetching Sweetness, book 2 in the Love Unleashed series, centers on Stephanie Pink, a literary agent who has been sent to a small town in California to pick up Agnes Wharton's new manuscript. Agnes had written the bestselling novel "Sea Comes Knocking" over fifteen years ago, and the agency had promised to handle her next book, which is where Stephanie comes into the picture.

What she thought would be a quick trip to get the manuscript, becomes a huge hassle. As soon as she arrives, Agnes's canine companion, Sweetness, escapes for the woman's home at the trailer campgrounds, and of course Stephanie has accepted the task of  retrieving the dog.

After spending more time than she wanted to there, Stephanie is still looking forward to reading the manuscript. Unfortunately, there is a little catch - Agnes needs her help in taking Sweetness back home to Eagle Cliff, Washington. Since Agnes has lost her driver license, so they must ask her neighbor, Rhett, to drive them there.