I didn’t get a single new book last week! How could that happen? A whole week without a new book. That very rarely happens these days. But I did get something very cool — a little trinket I had all but given up on.

Some time back, a blog offered a special promotion for M.J. Rose’s The Book of Lost Fragrances: pre-order the book from Amazon and receive a very special perfume sample, inspired by the novel. I got my book weeks ago, but there was no sign of the perfume. Last week, my scent shows up and it’s lovely. Here’s the description from the book:

“He struggled to separate out the notes he recognized from the ones he didn’t, searching for the ingredients that gave the blend its promise of hope, of long nights and voluptuous dreams, of invitation and embrace. Of an everlasting covenany ripe with possibility. Of lost souls reunited.”

That sounds like quite a scent! It definitely has the long nights and voluptuous dreams down — this is definitely a date-night scent. I am just tickled that the scent finally showed up!

This week, I am home! This is my first full week at home since January, so I plan to enjoy it. I’ve also got some cool stuff to share.

Monday: Let me tell you about what came in my mailbox!

Tuesday: I think my teaser will by from Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, unless I am hip deep in something else tomorrow.

Wednesday: Wondrous Words Wednesday – I’ve got some great words lined up for you this week. Maybe a book review, if I get an opportunity.

Thursday: Check back for my review of Carry the One by Carol Anshaw. This was a heart-breaker of a book, and I look forward to sharing it with you.

Friday: I have got an interesting guest post from Doxology author Brian Douglas Holers. He’s talking about setting in fiction, which is always an interesting topic.

Saturday: As always, there will be snapshots!

Sunday: And on Sunday, she rested. And read.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce at At Home with Books. To participate, post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

This week, I am traveling (go figure!) and so I’ve got a few pics from the road. First, I found the button! As you might recall from an earlier Snapshot, there is a great light show in the tunnel at the Detroit airport. The only concern is that the flashing lights can cause problems for people with certain medical conditions, so there is a button you can press to suspend the light show. It’s pretty well hidden, but I found it:

I haven’t pressed the button, but eventually, I will.

And next, here’s my desk at the hotel. I was working late at night on my website, getting some things loaded for the next day. Trying to keep the site up-to-date on the road can be hard, but it does help me keep things organized.

This is my first Bailey Weggins mystery! Bailey is a fun character — a true-crime journalist, based in Manhattan, writing for a celebrity magazine and getting seriously involved with a hot new boyfriend. There’s all kinds of material there for fun stories, and Kate White delivers the goods in So Pretty It Hurts. Bailey’s boyfriend is out of town (and Bailey isn’t sure she believes his story about it) so she takes off with her good friend Jessie. Jessie has the hots for music mogul Scott Cohen and Scott has invited her and a friend to a weekend house party at his retreat in the woods. It’s exactly what you’d expect: a rock star, a couple of models, a couple of journalists…and maybe a murderer.

This was a quick read — lots of fun, interesting characters and just enough introspection to keep it balanced. Bailey is trying to sort things out with her boyfriend, Beau Regan. She says that part of the reason she accepted Jessie’s invitation is that she is punishing Beau for being away. That’s crazy! If you get invited to a weekend retreat with rock stars and models, you go! Doesn’t matter where your boyfriend is, if you ask me.  But Bailey ends up snowed in with a dead model, a depressed friend and someone is lurking in the halls late at night. And once she gets home, it gets even worse.

If you like models and celebrity gossip, you’ll enjoy this book. It’s a fun mystery with a great setting and a lot of humor. Bailey’s work as a journalist gives White a lot to work with and it’s a world Kate White knows well – she is the Editor-in-Chief of Cosmopolitan magazine! There’s the mystery to solve, her job to save and she definitely needs to work on her relationship. The storylines wrap up nicely and I look forward to seeing what Bailey does in her next book.

If you’re looking for another mystery series to add to your library shelves, this is definitely one to check out. So Pretty It Hurts is number six in the line-up, so I’ve got a little reading to do to get caught up. My copy of So Pretty It Hurts was an Advance Reader Copy, provided free of charge.

Happy Wednesday — it’s time for some new words! You know how this works – share a few words from your current book that you had to look up, then head over to Bermuda Onion’s Weblog to learn some new ones.

This week, my words are from Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway. I have been gushing about this book all over the place, so now, a couple of cool words…

1. Tosher - A tosher is someone who scavenges in the sewers, especially in London during the Victorian era.

“This one requires a key; the toshers have installed a simple lock, not as a serious barrier to entry, but as a polite statement of territoriality.”

2. Horologist - a person who makes clocks or watches.

“Not perfect, horologist.”

3. Pruritus - itching

“Joe, one shoulder still sore from a near miss two weeks ago, says they are Satanic messengers of discord and pruritus.”

4. Trenchant - Vigorous or incisive in expression or style.

“Billy, unsettled, is prone to flights of trenchant fantasy.”

5. Enfilade - A volley of gunfire directed along a line from end to end.

“There are access points along the main corridor, which zigzags  around the rooms, making them more private but also obviating the possibility of an enfilade.

What new words did you learn this week?

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. You know the rules: grab your current read, open to a random page and share a two sentence teaser with us (no spoilers!). Be sure to tell us about the book, so we can add it to our TBR list!

This week, I have a terrific teaser from Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway. Nick’s debut novel, The Gone-Away World is one of the best books I’ve ever read — I can’t tell you how many people I’ve recommended it to — and I couldn’t want to get my hands on this one! It’s fabulous. I’m about half-way through and I am already sad that it’s going to end. The problem I had this week was deciding which teaser to use!

“Between Clighton Street and Blackfriars there is a cul-de-sac which actually isn’t a cul-de-sac. At the very end is a narrow gap and a pathway which leads to the railway line, and immediately on the left as you face the tracks there’s a doorway into the underworld. Through this little door goes Joseph Spork like the White Rabbit, and down a little spiral staircase into the narrow red-brick tunnels of the Tosher’s Beat.”

Okay, doesn’t that make you want to check it out? I know it makes me curious…but if you read on, it’s not as easy as walking through the door!

What’s teasing you this week?

I only got 2 new books last week (good news, because I need to get caught up on my reading), but they both look terrific.

First, Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin:

New York City is subsumed in arctic winds, dark nights, and white lights, its life unfolds, for it is an extraordinary hive of the imagination, the greatest house ever built, and nothing exists that can check its vitality. One night in winter, Peter Lake–orphan and master-mechanic, attempts to rob a fortress-like mansion on the Upper West Side.

Though he thinks the house is empty, the daughter of the house is home. Thus begins the love between Peter Lake, a middle-aged Irish burglar, and Beverly Penn, a young girl, who is dying.

Peter Lake, a simple, uneducated man, because of a love that, at first he does not fully understand, is driven to stop time and bring back the dead. His great struggle, in a city ever alight with its own energy and beseiged by unprecedented winters, is one of the most beautiful and extraordinary stories of American literature.

I’ve also heard that a movie is in the works, so I can’t wait to start on this one! This I bought for my personal library.

Next, I got my latest Early Reviewer book from LibraryThing.com, The Last Kind Words by Tom Piccirilli”:

Raised in a clan of small-time thieves and grifters, Terrier Rand decided to cut free from them and go straight after his older brother, Collie, went on a senseless killing spree that left an entire family and several others dead. Five years later, and days before his scheduled execution, Collie contacts Terry and asks him to return home. He claims he wasn’t responsible for one of the murders–and insists that the real killer is still on the loose.

Uncertain whether his brother is telling the truth, and dogged by his own regrets, Terry is drawn back into the activities of his family: His father, Pinsch, who once made a living as a cat burglar but retired after the heartbreak caused by his two sons. His card sharp uncles, Mal and Grey, who’ve recently incurred the anger of the local mob. His grandfather, Old Shep, who has Alzheimer’s but is still a first-rate pickpocket. His teenage sister, Dale, who’s flirting with the lure of the criminal world. And Kimmy, the fiancée he abandoned, who’s now raising a child with his former best friend.

As Terrier starts to investigate what really happened on the day of Collie’s crime spree, will the truth he uncovers about their offenses and secrets tear the Rands apart?

How about you — anything new on your bookshelf?

This week, I am in Huntington Beach, California! Sadly, it’s not going to be as warm as I was hoping, but the beach is still the beach. Here’s what I’ve got coming up:

Monday: I got a couple of new books last week to tell you about.

Tuesday: My teaser this week is from Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway. I’m about half-way through and absolutely loving it! The tough part is going to be deciding which teaser to pick!

Wednesday: Wondrous Words Wednesday – I’ve got some great words lined up for you this week.

Thursday: Check back for my review of So Pretty It Hurts by Kate White. It’s a great little mystery and I can’t wait to tell you about it.

Friday: I am hoping to have another review for you — all depends on the time I’ve got available.

Saturday: Saturday, I will be getting home from my trip after the red eye from hell. (Seriously – I land in Atlanta at 3:30 am with a 3 hour layover!) Hopefully, I will have some pictures posted in advance for Saturday Snapshot, because I plan to come right home and collapse.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce at At Home with Books. To participate, post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Last week, I was in St. Paul, MN for work. I absolutely love the Twin Cities area – so much culture, great music, interesting downtown areas, and great food. This was taken on the walk to one of our favorite St. Paul restaurants, The Happy Gnome. Dumb name, but great food and amazing beer selection!

Yeah, we’ve all had days like that.

In Burnedby Thomas Enger, Henning Juul is a veteran investigative reporter, returning to work after a series of personal tragedies left him changed and fragile. An apartment fire killed his son, ended his marriage and left him physically disfigured. He is struggling to deal with his fears and a case of PTSD that has left him unable to work for more than two years. A lot has changed in the world of internet news, he feels shaky, his sources and contacts may have moved on, but  he needs to prove himself, prove that he can still do the work — even if his new partner is dating his ex-wife. He’ll have the perfect opportunity: a gruesome murder committed in one of the city’s public parks. As Juul is drawn deeper and deeper into the case, both the danger — and the potential payoff — increase.

I have to admit that about 50 pages in, I almost set this aside. Early on, Juul is almost too fragile and too pathetic. It was painful to read. Here is a man who lost everything — his wife, his son, his career — and he feels responsible. He’s having a hard time adjusting to the regular rhythms of life. But I wanted to see what would happen to him and in the end, I’m glad I stuck with it.

The story is set in Oslo, Norway, which meant that the geographic references, and a lot of the cultural ones, were tough for me. There was some unfamiliar slang, but for the most part, it was easy reading. It was certainly an interesting look at the changes in the news business that have happened in just a few short years! Juul has to relearn his job while he is rushing to cover a major news story. His methods are very different from his showier colleague, but in the end, you know he’s going to be more successful.

Juul’s story is heartbreaking and you can’t help but root for him. Once I got past my frustration with Juul, it was easy to get sucked into the mystery. A young college student has been murdered — buried up to her neck and stoned to death in a tent set up in the park. The most obvious suspect, her Pakistani boyfriend, has some shady acquaintances. Her college friends, her colleagues in the film school and even her instructor all look a little suspicious. There are rumors that the murder was an honor killing, which has the potential to stir up a great deal of racial unrest. Juul is not going to have much time to get his sea legs back on this case, because he may be the next target.

I have been reading a lot of Scandinavian authors recently. Burned is Enger’s first novel, but I definitely look forward to reading the follow-up. With the cliffhanger that dangles at the end of Burned, how could I miss it!

My copy of Burned is an Advanced Reader Copy, provided free of charge.