Emptying the Nest: January 2012 Edition

So, we all have those books sitting on our shelves that we have already read and don't have a use for anymore. It doesn't mean that those books weren't great reads for us once upon a time. However, books are meant to be read so we here at Reading Lark will be giving our readers a chance to give some of our old books a new lease on life. All books are used, but still in good condition. All you have to do to enter is be a Reading Lark follower, tell us which book you'd like to adopt, and fill out the form. The form will also give you some ways to earn extra entries. You can also leave a comment to let us know what you think of this giveaway for +2 entries. This idea was originally inspired by the Secondhand Saturday event at Reading Teen.

Basic Rules:

* You must be 13 years old or older to enter the YA and Classic Giveaways.
* You must be 18 years or older to enter the Adult Giveaways.

* You must have a US or Canadian mailing address to enter.

* The January event runs from 1/16-1/21. Winners will be announced on 1/22.

Click here to enter!

Here are the books you could snag in January - You can enter to win as many of them as you'd like. We have SEVEN awesome giveaways for you this month. It will be possible for you to win more than once if you enter for more than one book.

 All summaries from Goodreads.
*Note - Cover art may vary from the edition won.*

Giveaway #1: City of Bones (Mortal Instruments #1) by Cassandra Clare (YA)

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder -- much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing -- not even a smear of blood -- to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy? 

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. . . . 

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.

Giveaway #2: Shadowland (The Mediator #1) by Meg Cabot (YA)

There's a hot guy in Susannah Simon's bedroom. Too bad he's a ghost. 

Suze is a mediator-a liaison between the living and the dead. In other words, she sees dead people. And they won't leave her alone until she helps them resolve their unfinished business with the living. But Jesse, the hot ghost haunting her bedroom, doesn't seem to need her help. Which is a relief, because Suze has just moved to sunny California and plans to start fresh, with trips to the mall instead of the cemetery, and surfing instead of spectral visitations. 

But the very first day at her new school, Suze realizes it's not that easy. There's a ghost with revenge on her mind.and Suze happens to be in the way.

Giveaway #3: Vampire High by Douglas Rees (YA)

It doesn’t take long for Cody Elliot to realize that his new high school is a little different. The other students are supernaturally strong, don’t like the sunlight, and are always placing orders at the local blood bank. When his new friend shows him his fangs, Cody doesn’t need any more clues—these kids are vampires! As Cody struggles to fit into this secretive community, he disrupts centuries of human-vampire segregation, with some serious—and some seriously funny—consequences.

In sharp, humorous, and insightful prose, Douglas Rees creates a world of vampires where the real issue for humans is not the fear of being bitten, but the need to get along.

Giveaway #4: At Risk by Patricia Cornwall (Adult)

A Massachusetts state investigator is called home from Knoxville, Tennessee, where he is completing a course at the National Forensic Academy. His boss, the district attorney, attractive but hard-charging, is planning to run for governor, and as a showcase she's planning to use a new crime initiative called At Risk; its motto: "Any crime, any time." In particular, she's been looking for a way to employ cutting-edge DNA technology, and she thinks she's found the perfect subject in an unsolved twenty-year-old murder --- in Tennessee. If her office solves the case, it ought to make them all look pretty good, right? 

Her investigator is not so sure --- not sure about anything to do with this woman, really --- but before he can open his mouth, a shocking piece of violence intervenes, an act that shakes up not only both their lives but also the lives of everyone around them. It's not a random event. Is it personal? Is it professional? Whatever it is, the implications are very, very bad indeed ... and they're about to get much worse. 

Sparks fly, traps spring, twists abound --- this is the master working at the top of her game.

Giveaway #5: The Fiction Class by Susan Breen (Adult)

A witty, honest, and hugely entertaining story for anyone who loves books, or has a difficult mother. And, let's face it, that's practically everybody . . . 

On paper, Arabella Hicks seems more than qualified to teach her fiction class on the Upper West Side: she's a writer herself; she's passionate about books; she's even named after the heroine in a Georgette Heyer novel. 

On the other hand, she's thirty-eight, single, and has been writing the same book for the last seven years. And she has been distracted recently: on the same day that Arabella teaches her class she also visits her mother in a nursing home outside the city. And every time they argue. Arabella wants the fighting to stop, but, as her mother puts it, "Just because we're family, doesn't mean we have to like each other." When her class takes a surprising turn and her lessons start to spill over into her weekly visits, she suddenly finds she might be holding the key to her mother's love and, dare she say it, her own inspiration. After all, as a lifelong lover of books, she knows the power of a good story.

Giveaway #6: Belle St. Marie by Kay Moser (Adult)

When Rachel D'Evereau's life suddenly comes crashing down, the 35 year old professor seeks solace at Belle St. Marie, her grandmother's plantation house and the only place she could go for the quietness and peace she needs to pull herself together.

Alone in the old house, Rachel is confronted by the past: memories of her childhood and her grandmother, Elinore, and a Civil War diary tucked away in the attic.

Across time, the dusty journal of her great grandmother's joys and sorrows teaches Rachel how to persevere, fulfilling her grandmother's faith and strengthening her own.

Giveaway #7: The Night Swimmer by Matt Bondurant (Adult)

From the “remarkable storyteller” ( San Francisco Chronicle ) and highly acclaimed author of The Wettest County in the World comes a suspenseful novel about a young American couple who win a pub on the southernmost tip of Ireland and become embroiled in local violence and intrigue.

Matt Bondurant’s novel The Wettest County in the World was aNew York Times Editor’s Pick, one of the San Francisco Chronicle ’s 50 Best Books of the Year, and is being made into a major motion picture. Now, Bondurant has delivered The Night Swimmer, an atmospheric tale infused with Hitchcockian suspense.

When Fred and Elly Bulkington arrive in a small town on the southern coast of Ireland from Vermont, having won a pub in a contest, they encounter a wild, strange land and the native resistance to outsiders. As Fred immerses himself in the life of a pub-owner, Elly takes the ferry out to a nearby island where she—to the disbelief of the locals—is consumed by her ritual of open water ocean swimming, pushing herself to the limits. Elly becomes enmeshed in the island’s troubles—the power struggles between an enigmatic goat herder and the family that has controlled the area for centuries—while Fred’s sanity wavers and their marriage begins to unravel.

Filled with lush imagery of the Irish coast, crashing sea, rolling hills, and rich Irish lore, The Night Swimmer is a stunning novel that exposes the dark and unseen crevasses in the human heart.