Hidden Wives Giveaway and Interview

I picked up a book Sunday evening planning to just read a chapter or two as my current read was very long and growing very dull. Before I knew it, one chapter or two became 155 pages and at 3 am I had to tell myself it was time to go to bed. Monday morning came around, I let the dogs out to pee, I fed them, I sat down and read... and read some more... and fed the dogs again and let them out to pee again and sat down and read some more.. I finished the book, all 350 pages of it (NO SKIPPING OR SKIMMING) late Monday afternoon and I LOVED it. I loved it so much, that I have been in contact with the authors and I am featuring it on here with a giveaway of a signed copy courtesy of the authors. The book is Hidden Wives and the author is Claire Avery. For those that are not familiar with this author, Claire Avery is a pseudonym for two sisters, Mari and Michelle.

Not only have Mari and Michelle honored me with a signed copy to give away to a lucky person who posts a comment and their email address beneath this post, (Winner's name will be drawn and notified July 15th) but they have also agreed to answer some questions. So Sunday, June 27th, Claire Avery will answer Ten Questions from Tara. If any of you readers wish to direct a question their way yourself, post it below. I'll be sure it gets noticed.

Readers can also increase their chances of winning a signed copy of this book by checking out Claire Avery's website: http://www.claireaveryauthor.com/ where they may enter another giveaway ending July 1st.

Now, if any of you missed my review over on goodreads.com, then here it is:

Approximately a mile and a half from a town in Utah called Centennial, lies a commuity called Blood of the Lamb in which men are the gods of their households and women are disposable. The "prophet" of this community claims he receives instructions directly from his god and therefore his words are infallible. He has 50 wives. His "apostles" are the richest in the community and they also have many young wives. The more common men in the community have about three or four wives a piece.

Sara and Rachel come from such a household. They have four mothers and one very abusive father. But he is "god" of his house and his word is law.. At 16 years of age, Sara and Rachel are waiting their betrothals. Sara is dismayed to discover she must marry her own uncle. Rachel is beautiful and of course, seventeen different men receive "testments from god" that they are designated to be her husband. Thus, her fate remains in the balance. May the richest "man of god" win.

Sara find herself "buried in truth" (I'm not going to explain that terminology cause it would ruin the story) and begins to think for herself. Does she want to marry her uncle and have deformed babies? No. She wants an education. She wants to read books. She is a headstrong girl and finds herself meeting a young boy from outside the community, a black boy. Here's the deal: Blood of the Lamb community claims that black people are animals.. they are spawn of Satan. (Have you ever heard a more smelly pile of bull crap?) Irvin is his name and he begins to open Sara's eyes even more. There may be a future outside Blood of the Lamb community for her .. Will it involve Irvin?

Rachel is not quite as strong as Sara and she is completely brainwashed by this cult. She will do anything she is told despite her strong her love for a new young man, Luke. With seventeen men claiming "god" wants her to be their wife and 4 of them high ranking apostles, Luke doesn't stand a chance. When Luke speaks his mind and attempts to fight for Rachel, things go sour. Will Rachel ever see the light or is she destined to become wife number 51 to some dirty old brainwashed man?

Sara won't leave without Rachel and women are disposable. Could they even get away if they tried.. without losing their lives? The ending is surprising. Let's just say the you-know-what hits the fan!

An amazing, thought evoking novel. It shocked me to the core. I couldn't decide whether to laugh, cry, scream or gasp half the time. It is well written and really makes one ponder religion and how much people will exploit it. Def one the best reads of 2010.

I purchased this book on /Amazon.