EShakti Winners!

Congratulations the the three lucky winners of $20 EShakti gift certificates, I am Lee-Ann, Brittany, and Tannie's Chatter!

Stax Winners

Mom Forever and Ever and katklaw777 you are the winners of the Stax logs giveaway! I will contact you tomorrow! So few readers have fireplaces that all entrants won:)

Baby Snazz Organic Leghuggers Winner!

Wow! Lucky woman...Tannie's Chatter you have also won these awesome Organic Leghuggers!
I'll email tomorrow:)

Runt Farm Winner!

Congrats Tannie's Chatter! You won a set of these adorable children's books! Emailing you tomorrow:)

Winner of the Norah Jones Lego Giveaway!

Wow! Congrats number 17 Randa from Bewitchin' Kitchen!! You just won the Lego Giveaway celebrating Norah Jones' "Chasing Pirates".

Roses ~ A Breathtaking Saga! ~Book Review and Giveaway

The most enjoyable epic novel I have read in years Leila Meacham’s volume Roses is sure to become a modern classic! Roses is a saga as breath taking and sweeping as Gone with the Wind; A generational epic approaching the drama and tragedy of The Thorn Birds! I was drawn immediately to the depth of characters and the dramatic, wistful, and charming southern setting.

The story of the three founding families of a Texas town, Howbutker, bound together by the messages of the roses they nurture and torn apart by loyalty to heritage and love misguided. It is a brilliantly and beautifully rendered tale spanning the gamete of human emotion and tendering the archetypal theme of the lure and desire of land, a desire so great that it destroys love and conscience. Reminiscent of Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind --Scarlett’s undying fight for Tara--and Mordecai Richler’s The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz--in which land is all that matters--Meacham takes the theme to new heights, her matriarch Mary Toliver an even more admirable and formidable character than Scarlett O’Hara ever was. I felt the depths of Meacham’s characters, delved into their private thoughts and ambitions and gained a peak into their souls.

Three generations are nearly destroyed by the curse of Somerset--the Tolivers‘ cotton plantation-- the story told through the experiences of characters embroiled in decisions which will change the course of life for so many. Mary Toliver, a young woman who inherits her family’s cotton plantation under ill-thought circumstances, Percy Warwick, the son of the Warwick lumber barons whom Mary was meant to marry, and Rachel ,Mary’s grand-niece and perhaps the future Toliver heir!

Bewildered by Mary’s decision to end the Toliver’s generational rein over Somerset, lawyer and friend Amos strives to understand a family he thought he had understood for years:

“”What story don’t I know, Mary? I’ve read everything ever printed about the Tolivers and Warwicks and DuMonts, not to mention having lived among you for forty years. I’ve been privy to everything affecting each of you since I came to Howbutker. Whatever secrets you may have harbored would have come out. I know you.”
She lowered her lids briefly, fatigue clearly evident in their sepia-tinged folds. When she raised them again, her gaze was soft with affection. “Amos, dear, you came into our lives when our stories were done. You have known us at our best, when all our sad and tragic deeds were behind us and we were living with their consequences...”” (Meacham 2010: 7)

Consequences and sacrifice haunt the lives of all who remain! When love does not always win out over land, pride, and loyalty to legacy, readers question whether they cross into the territory of selfish ambition and disloyalty to loved ones. When twists of fate cause harboured false assumptions, passion, and love turn to rage, jealousy, and vengeance in this drama spanning the twentieth century!

Category:FICTION
Format:HARDCOVER BOOK
Publish Date:1/6/2010
Price:$24.99/$29.99
ISBN:9780446550000
Pages:624

Northern Mama readers will be as engrossed as I! Hachette is offering five copies of the Roses by Leila Meacham!
To Enter:

• Be a Northern Mama follower or Facebook Fan {Required}

Extra Entries:

• Subscribe via email
• Follow on Twitter @Northernmama35 and RT Tweet {daily} about this giveaway
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• Blog about this giveaway with a link back here {please leave a link to your post}
  

Giveaway open to US and Canadian residents. Giveaway closes February 14th, 2010 10:00pm CT. Read Giveaway Rules for details.

Eden Fantasy Wishes you a Sizzling, Spicy Valentine's Day!

The only holiday actually dedicated to an emotion is fast approaching. Love may be an emotion but to many this emotion is one which is tangible and takes on a concrete value which has transformed it into one of the most sought after riches in the world. For some existence depends on its presence! For others it is a warm addition to an already fulfilling life.
Valentine’s Day celebrates this cultivated pearl of human pleasure!

When Nicole of Eden Fantasys contacted me she was tentative about how I would interpret her request for a review and giveaway. She knows I am a family-friendly site but thought valentine might be an exceptional circumstance. I think my response was a refreshing surprise! Sex is family-friendly! Besides the obvious reproductive reasons for this statement, I believe sex is one of the many key bonding elements of a healthy relationship and just as other elements supporting a relationship must be nourished so too should sex and romance! Couples working to nurture their relationships make more fulfilled human beings and ultimately are better able to sustain a happy family life!
Now I am not a prude and though my husband and I are probably not outrageous and extreme in our sexual exploits we enjoy spicing up our intimate experiences. Ironically, I tend to be more private regarding our intimate relations. I rarely discuss this topic with my friends and I certainly do not plaster the details of our intimacy upon billboards but here I am splashing our boudoir escapades across your computer screens on the world wide web! I am luckily not uncomfortable with the topic it just rarely surfaces in regular conversation. If you are looking for the outrageous and down and dirty however you may want to continue surfing!

Eden Fantasys is an online sex aid/toy store which is honestly, tasteful and smart in its product presentation. Smart because it caters to the tastes and needs of women and not just the exploited male fantasy! You won’t be confronted by unnaturally inflated chests popping off your computer screen, no ridiculously raunchy sales tactics. At Eden Fantasys you can make informed choices about aids to enhance your sex life. Whether you are in a relationship and in search of tools to spice up your intimate relations as a couple--maybe add a little thrill or romance--or you are without a relationship and require a little self-satisfaction Eden Fantasys has that which you seek! I had difficulty choosing my review items overwhelmed by the vast array of options but to make the choice easier Eden Fantasys includes ratings and a chart of key features with their product descriptions. Navigating the site is a pleasure in itself, like a kid in a candy store so to speak!

Hubby and I have enjoyed a bit of pre-Valentines product testing--for your benefit of course--to bring you this Eden Fantasys review and giveaway before your holiday planning excitement begins! Awe….what we endure for my blog readers…funnily hubby didn’t seem to have any complaints about this product research…hmmm! We received three free products: Mimi Bijoux Indiscrets rhinestone pasties, Cosmos Steamy Sex Games, and the Mini-Max Waterproof Vibrating Lipstick.

I wanted three diverse products to reflect variety and to appeal to the tastes of different readers. I also felt a combination of fun toys would make a fabulously exciting Valentine’s experience.

The pasties were just a fun yet simple twist on my typical choice of lingerie. I have never worn them before and thought the shock value might be a bit of a turn-on…I have to admit this was a fabulous idea producing a far more exciting reaction from hubby than I anticipated! I think one of the greatest turn-ons is just throwing in something unexpected. I am not the most endowed woman but these rhinestone pasties certainly accentuated the positive and the “bling” factor was better than I had envisioned! Wow, I felt wildly sexy and hubby was certainly in agreement. And no I will not be furnishing personal photos {it’s not that kind of site}!

Donning a little sparkle is nothing compared to the secrets concealed within my makeup case! I feel like a secret agent, or at the vary least a sexually mature Mata Hari, as mingled amidst blusher and gloss I harbour a mini-vibrator looking like an innocuous lipstick--The Mini-Max Waterproof Vibrating Lipstick.. Now to be honest this is probably the most sensitive item I have to review. I do not tend to use vibrators though my husband and I will include one occasionally in our bedroom frolics. Usually it is my husband who surprises me with one, so I thought it would be fun to discretely reveal this little number!

For those of you who may be left lonely this is also a great item to carry for discretely meeting your needs--even in the most unlikely locales--and for a small mechanism it definitely has a decent adjustable “buzz”.

Okay perhaps I am blushing, but really we are all grown ups here. Perhaps if we talked more openly about sex we could free ourselves from many of the problems which lead to divorce courts, boredom in the bedroom, and the sexual repression many women have faced for centuries! I’m a feminist in many ways. I believe women have the right to be the sexual creatures they are without exploitation. I believe we as women deserve to take pleasure in sex just as men do! As a couple how best to succeed at pleasing both parties can be sometimes an adventure of discovery, a game of trial and error. Cosmos can be a fun tool of discovery .

I am not a huge fan of many of these sex games because I often find them less than spontaneous and some can often take the pleasure. And romance out of the lovemaking experience but because Cosmos includes a variety of couples-only games focused on various elements of play I found some intriguing. My favourite sizzling, sensual Cosmo games “Truth or Dare” and “Dicey Discoveries”. For some more creative fun the games “A Night of Naughty Adventure” and “The Cosmo Carnal Challenge”--be prepared with the list of props!
I would recommend these especially for those who are still learning more about their partners preferences. Perfect for new couples or for couples maybe requiring a bit of a refresher course on “each other”. I found they would make an entertaining start to a special Valentine’s night together. We have not used them often. My children often cause interference in something so contrived as games like these but we will be pulling them out whenever we have the opportunity.

Valentine’s is around the corner and Eden Fantasys wants Northern Mama readers to break free from the ordinary and spice it up with more than cinnamon hearts and is offering one lucky reader a $35 Gift Card!
To Enter:

• Visit Eden Fantasys and tell me what you will spend your $35 on or what item you think would be great for a perfect Valentine's Day {Required}
• non-bloggers remember to leave me your email address.

Extra Entries:

• Follow Northern Mama {Google Friends Connect}
• Be a Northern Mama Facebook Fan
• Subscribe to Northern Mama via email
• Follow me on Twitter @Northernmama35 and (RT 1xdaily) Tweet about this giveaway
• Grab my Button
• Blog about this giveaway with a link back here {Please leave me a link to your post}
  

Giveaway open to Canadian and US residents! Giveaway closes February 14th, 2010, 10:00pm CT. Please read Giveaway Rules for further details.