LETTER Z!
This will be a giveaway working through the alphabet by author's last name.
RULES FOR ENTERING:
a. Post a comment to the blog entries of the books you would like to win AND answer the "Just for Fun" question that goes with it.
Today's question for "Z." Z is for zipper. Anyone have a funny zipper story? I had a professor in college who constantly had his zipper open on his pants. He'd put his hands in his pants pockets and sit on his desk when he lectured. It was horrible!
b. Enter on or before the date specified. Claim your prize, if you win, within 10 days of being notified or I will redraw. (In other words, let me know you want the book and where it should be sent, should you find out your name was drawn. Enter by February 6. Today's book winner will be drawn on Feb. 7. c. Check back for the next giveaway! No author located with a last name that starts with Z. Decided on a series that I love that has a Z in the series title: the Occupational Hazard Series by Rene Gutteridge. Book 1 Description: TV news producer Hugo Talley is desperate to boost ratings and attract a younger demographic. But an aging anchorwoman, a know-it-all weatherman, a reporter who shuns sensationalism, and young Hayden Hazard---an assistant who can't leave her faith outside the newsroom---are jeopardizing Hugo's dreams. Will Hayden's personal convictions destroy Channel 7's shot at success? My Review: I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again, I love Rene Gutteridge! She writes with humor and style and creates the most unusal characters and circumstances! In the Occupational Hazard Series, she has created a family of homeschooled siblings who grew up working together in their parents' clown business. When their parents die together in a freak accident, their brother decides it's time for them to do something different and he closes the family business. Thus the series of Hazard siblings and their occupations is born! In this first book, Hayden is working as an Assistant in a newsroom. Little does she know that strange circumstances will bring her in front of the camera. The irony is that Hayden has enough innocence and a childlike faith that will have her accept the position easily with pure trust that she can handle it because that's what God wants her to do. Gutteridge does a fascinating job of capturing the story of Hayden without using Hayden's voice for the story. The story is told through the eyes of the people around her. And they are a quirky and strange bunch! And the events in their lives are quirky enough to match them! Very funny! So take some humor, throw in some suspense, and add a dash of romance for this terrific book by one of my favorite authors! If you get a chance to read this series, you will be entertained and even challenged--in light-hearted, off-beat way--to see what childlike confidence in one's faith can look like in an adult. Hayden reminds us all that we should never be ashamed of the gospel and should always have an answer when asked about what we believe in. Book 2 Description: Keeping the streets safe can be murder on the knees. My Review: Another winner from this series! More likeable characters who make me laugh out loud. More suspense than the first book in the series. More unashamed-faith-proclaiming Hazard family members. Mack is a little more "rough around the edges" than Hayden (from Scoop), but she is just as determined to be real and honest about her faith. So take this honesty and determination to always speak freely about her beliefs and try imagining such a woman in an undercover cop position. Not hard to see some sparks would fly as she ends up working with a cop like Jesse who does undercover with an edge and an attitude. Throw in the experienced boss of Yeager who has to get them to work together and a pastor who maneuers himself into the case and you get a interesting and crazy adventure as they try to bring down a car-theft ring! Again, Gutteridge does a fantastic job of telling the story through the eyes of the characters around Mack. I couldn't put it down! Book 3 description: Come Fly The Frenzied Skies! My Thoughts: Funny....engaging...gripping. You never know what crazy thing is going to happen next in this adventure that takes place almost entirely during one (unbelievably) eventful flight to Amersterdam. (I love that they are going to the Netherlands on the flight! All my grandparents are from there and I grew up in a predominantly Dutch community so it was cool for me!) What a crazy flight! First there's a wacky captain with some legendary landing in the Bermuda Triangle. There's a thief being escorted back to the Netherlands whose afraid someone on the plane is trying to kill him. There's a woman with a personal assistant pet that's a pig. There's a guy trying to hide the diamonds he's carrying back to his grandmother in the Netherlands and the guy who's trying to steal them. There's a passenger who's dead...and then not dead. There's Lucy, a woman trying to live based on positive and negative energy while recovering from being dumped by a boyfriend who turns up on the same flight. And then there's Hank Hazard. Who in typical Hazard family fashion stands out in this crazy crowd, not because of any wacky behavior of his own, but because he is remarkably different in his peaceful handling of it. All the Harzard siblings are like this. They attract people who want what they have. I think Gutteridge outdid herself with this cast of characters. I laughed out loud at the antics of a pig who is a fussy eater. Grabbed my seat with suspense as Hank and another passenger have to land a plane without a pilot. And was reminded again of the importance of having the kind of faith that shines like the Hazard family faith. Everywhere they go, people around them are struck by their substance and peace.
Just shy of retirement and a well-earned pension, Las Vegas Police Department Sergeant Ron Yeager's definition of "active duty" involves shifting his bad leg into a more comfortabel position. But when he's requested from his mind-numbing desk job to head an undercover auto theft task force, the former narcotics officer determines to prove he's still got the right stuff. That is, until he meets his unlikely team of officers
As Yeager soon finds out, not all the crazies are on the street. An undercover rookie, the audaciously honest Mackenzie "Mack" Hazard sends Yeager's blood pressure skyrocketing by wearing her faith like an ever-present badge. Then there's Jesse Lunden, a maverick undercover officer who refuses to learn anything from an old guy with a cane. Can this tangle of egos and eccentrics be trained into a lean, mean, crime-fighting machine--even when they are being drawn into something much bigger and more dangerous than anyone imagined? 
Blissfully unaware that Atlantica Flight 1945 from Atlanta to Amsterdam is about to make aviation history, First Officer Danny McSweeney focuses his energies on navigating the turbulent personalities of an eccentric female captain, a copilot with a talent for tactless comments and conspiracy theories, and a lead flight attendant with an outsized attitude that definitely exceeds the limits for carry-on baggage.
On the other side of the cockpit door, the unscheduled inflight entertainment includes a potbellied pig, a jittery diamond courier, and the recently jilted Lucy Meredith, whose personal mantra of "What Would Oprah Do?" will be challenged by the sudden appearance of her ex and his new traveling partner. On her left sits Hank Hazard, whose unusually polite but constant requests--prompted by his covert role as a spy for teh airline--test the limits of the crew's customer service.
But as Lucy and the crew discover, Hank's odd behavior is linked to a quiet faith that may play a key role in the fate of everyone on board. Especially when an unexpected traveler sets this already bumpy flight on a course toward the unfriendly skies.
