The Little Stranger Giveway Winner!

THE WINNER OF THE LITTLE STRANGER BY

SARAH WATERS IS...

ALYCE!

CONGRATS! AND THANKS TO ALL WHO SIGNED UP FOR THE GIVEAWAY.

The Little Stranger Giveaway

I am giving away one gently used copy of The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. Here is the Barnes and Noble description:

Set in rural Warwickshire just after the Second World War, The Little Stranger is her fifth novel, the first with a male narrator, Dr. Faraday. We meet the doctor at Hundreds Hall, a former grand structure now wasting away, and home to the Ayreses for close to two centuries. Members of the landed gentry now fallen to ruin, the Ayreses -- Mrs. Ayres and her two grown children, Caroline and Roderick -- seem steeped in a bygone, gentler age. Called upon to examine the housemaid, Dr Faraday finds himself strangely drawn to the dilapidated house, where his own mother used to work as a maid 30 years ago. What begins as mild fascination with the house and its residents will transform itself into something more pronounced as Dr. Faraday scrambles to make sense of the strange happenings that begin to haunt Hundreds. Unexplained marks appear on the walls, fires start on their own accord, and footsteps break the silence of unoccupied rooms. Acting both as doctor and confidant, Dr. Faraday's life becomes closely entwined with the Ayreses, even as a string of greater tragedies descend on the Hundreds. This is quintessential Waters territory -- involving madness, suicide, and an arguable murder -- perfected over the rather steep arc of her work. Dripping with psychological suspense, The Little Stranger keeps the reader guessing on whether it is an atmospheric horror story or a macabre murder mystery right to the end.

And here is my review: The Little Stranger Review

If you would like to enter the giveaway, then leave your name and email address in the comments section. The giveaway will close on Sunday, July 25th at midnight EST. Only US residents please. Good luck!

Review -- The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

The Little Stranger

by Sarah Waters

Riverhead Books, 2009

510 pages

*I received this book from the publisher for review.

Summary: Taking place after WWII in the English manor house of Hundreds Hall, Dr. Faraday befriends the Ayres family as their home continues to deteriorate and odd things begin to happen. As each family member begins to hear, feel, and see strange and unexplainable things, Dr. Faraday acts as a confidante and tries to help the family understand what is happening to them.

Review: The Little Stranger is an amazingly well written and descriptive historical ghost story. Sarah Waters does a great job immersing the reader into the lonely and depressed world of the Ayres' family and Hundreds Hall. She also does a fantastic job of creating well rounded characters that you see develop throughout the story. Though many of the supporting character I very much enjoyed (especially Betty and Roddie) there were a few characters that I had a hard time liking towards the end (Dr. Faraday, Mrs. Ayres, Caroline). I especially had a hard time with Dr. Faraday and Caroline's relationship, he being so naive and she being with him for the wrong reasons. Overall, this book was a good read, but being so character driven and detail oriented the pace and plot was quite slow. My favorite parts were when odd and (sometimes) terrible things would happen to the family that were unexplainable. At those times, Waters had me on the edge of my seat. Rating: ***1/2 out of 5.

Have you read and reviewed this too? Leave a link to your review in the comments section!

3 W Wednesday -- 6/30

This meme is hosted by Should Be Reading.

What are you currently reading? I am currently trying to finish The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters and The Host by Stephenie Meyer.

What have you recently finished? Over the weekend I finished The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson. I am hoping to post my review soon.

What are you reading next? The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon for book club, This Must Be the Place by Kate Racculia for review, and The Passage by Justin Cronin because my curiosity has gotten the best of me.

What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you reading? -- 6/28

This meme is hosted by Book Journey.

This Monday, I am happy to say that I am more than half way through The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters and enjoying it more and more with each page I read. I am also about 200 pages into The Host by Stephenie Meyer, but have put it aside to focus on The Little Stranger. I didn't post any reviews last week (awful -- I know) but did finish reading The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson and am hoping to have my review posted sometime this week.

What are you reading?

3 W Wednesdays -- 6/23

This meme is hosted by Should Be Reading.

What are you currently reading? Right now I am in the middle of three books: The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson, The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters, and The Host by Stephenie Meyer. I have been juggling the three of them for about a week now, but can't seem to put down The Girl Who Played With Fire, so the other two may need to wait a bit.

What have you finished reading recently? I just finished Everything Lovely, Effortless, Safe by Jenny Hollowell (click on the title to read my review), which I thought was a good read and very different. Hollowell has a distinct voice and the novel is very character driven.

What are you reading next? I am planning on reading The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon for July's library book club meeting. Truthfully, I have no idea what this novel is about! I picked it up from the library but haven't had a minute to read the front flap.

What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you reading? -- 6/21

This meme is hosted by Book Journey.

Happy Monday! This week I am continuing to work through The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters, The Host by Stephenie Meyer, and The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson. Last week, I did not finish any of the current books that I am reading, but did post reviews for The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley and Everything Lovely, Effortless, Safe by Jenny Hollowell (click on the titles to read my review).

What are you reading?

3 W Wednesdays -- 6/16

This meme is hosted by Should Be Reading.

What are you currently reading? I am still working my way through The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. I just started The Host by Stephenie Meyer (which is a contest win and a re-read) and The Girl who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson.

What did you recently finish reading? I just finished The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (click on the title to read my review) and Everything Lovely, Effortless, Safe by Jenny Hollowell (review to come).

What are you reading next? I have This Must Be the Place by Kate Racculia to read for review.

What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you reading? -- 6/14

This meme is hosted by Book Journey.

Happy Monday! I am currently reading The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters and The Girl that Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson. Last week, I finished The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley and Everything Lovely, Effortless, Safe by Jenny Hollowell (both reviews to come). I also reviewed Shanghai Girls by Lisa See and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (click on the title to read my review).

What are you reading?

3 W Wednesday -- 6/9

This meme is hosted by Should Be Reading.

What are you currently reading? I am almost finished with The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley and just started The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters.

What have you recently finished reading? Last week I finished Shanghai Girls by Lisa See for book club meeting this coming Monday night (we are talking to the author -- AWESOME!)

What are you reading next? I have two books for review -- This Must Be the Place by Kate Racculia and Everything Lovely, Effortless, Safe by Jenny Hollowell.

What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you reading? -- 6/7

I just got back from a busy weekend of camping and 4 wheeling and wasn't able to read as much as I would have liked. So I am still reading The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (really good) and The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (getting good) this week. Last week I finished Shanghai Girls by Lisa See and am hoping to have a review posted this week. I also reviewed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson last week (click on the title to read my review).

What are you reading? (This meme is hosted by Book Journey).

It's Monday! What are you reading? -- 6/1

This meme is hosted by Book Journey.

Happy Monday! This week I am reading Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (it has become my gym read and taking a little longer than anticipated -- I really need to get to the gym more often) and The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (just started).

Last week, I finished Shanghai Girls (review to come) and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (review to come). I did review two books last week: Never Let You Go by Erin Healy and The Scent of Rain and Lightning by Nancy Pickard (click on the title to read my review).

What are you reading this week?

Friday Finds -- 5/28

Happy Friday! I am looking forward to a nice long weekend filled with sunshine and reading. My Friday Find for this week is The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. Here is the Barnes and Noble description:

With The Little Stranger, Waters revisits the fertile setting of Britain in the 1940s—and gives us a sinister tale of a haunted house, brimming with the rich atmosphere and psychological complexity that have become hallmarks of Waters’s work.The Little Stranger follows the strange adventures of Dr. Faraday, the son of a maid who has built a life of quiet respectability as a country doctor. One dusty postwar summer in his home of rural Warwickshire, he is called to a patient at Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for more than two centuries, the Georgian house, once grand and handsome, is now in decline—its masonry crumbling, its gardens choked with weeds, the clock in its stable yard permanently fixed at twenty to nine. But are the Ayreses haunted by something more ominous than a dying way of life? Little does Dr. Faraday know how closely, and how terrifyingly, their story is about to become entwined with his.Abundantly atmospheric and elegantly told, The Little Stranger is Sarah Waters’s most thrilling and ambitious novel yet.

I just received a copy for review and it sounds fantastic. I can't wait to start reading it. What did you find this week?