A Heartbeat Away - Review and Giveaway

Shortly after finishing Delirious, by Daniel Palmer, I had the opportunity to read A Heartbeat Away, the soon to be released thriller from Michael Palmer (he's Daniel's dad).

Since I had just finished reading a book, I was back in the groove of reading a few chapters each night. It was working well for me until one night when I just couldn't put the book down and started doing the just one more chapter approach. Next thing I knew, it was midnight but I still had 100 pages to go. I knew that I had to get up for work the next morning, and recognized that 100 pages was going to keep me up much longer than I should have been (not that I wasn't already up too late!). I turned off my light and went to sleep. I took my book to work with me the next day. I wasn't exactly sure when I was going to read - perhaps I could sneak in a few minutes at lunch. I only read about 5 pages during the day, so at the end of the day, I couldn't wait to sit down and read. I even put off cleaning up dinner dishes so that I could readfinish the book. I knew that I wasn't going to do anything until I was done.

Wow! That's all I could say after finishing the book. (That's not all I will say about the book, but when I finished reading the book earlier this week, that was my response.)

A Heartbeat Away is a "medical/political thriller" that takes place in part in the House and opens during the State of the Union Address, when a domestic terrorist group coordinates the release of a virus that is deadly and highly contagious. The President of the United States is a doctor and is very familiar with the virus and its dangers, as his administration had been the one developing it. As is required at any political event, where essentially everyone is present, there was a designated survivor, someone in the chain of Presidential succession - the one who was "a heartbeat away" from presidency.

As the book progresses, we meet some of the researchers that had been working on the development of the virus, as well as a treatment for the virus. The book also develops the back story on how Genesis, the domestic terrorist group, was able to pull off the release of the virus, as well as manipulate the process of trying to save those that were present at the State of the Union Address.

As I read, I found myself cheering for some characters and wanting to shake others, who I just couldn't believe were being so dumb - couldn't they see that they were being played? or were they part of the plot to wipe out the government?

The book definitely hooked me early and I really didn't want to put it down. My reaction in reading this book, was similar to that which I have had with most of his books - the story seems so plausible, that it gave me that strange sense of wonder, that thought - could this really happen?. If you've read any of his books, you know that this is a truly unnerving thought. I also like how there seems to be a thread of romance woven loosely into the storyline of many of Michael's books. It isn't a major component of the story, but certainly puts a certain softness to the otherwise heart-pounding thriller and perhaps helps lend to the believability of the story.

You'll have to read the book to find out what happens, it wouldn't be fair to spoil the read for others. The book is scheduled to be released on 2/15. You can pre-order A Heartbeat Away now.

Want to learn more?

Michael’s Official Website
Like Michael Palmer on Facebook
Follow Michael Palmer on Twitter
Listen to the first chapter here:

Giveaway!
Courtesy of Michael Palmer, one A Busy Mom of Two reader has the chance to receive an autographed, copy of A Heartbeat Away, upon it's release.

To enter, leave a comment with an answer to this question: If you have read Michael Palmer, which book is your favorite? If you haven't, who is your favorite thriller/mystery writer?

Additional Entries:

• Follow @ABusyMomofTwo on Twitter.

• Follow @Michael_Palmer on Twitter.

• Tweet about this giveaway. You may complete this entry once per day. (You may use the following or write your own: Enter to win an autographed copy of @Michael_Palmer new thriller #AHeartbeatAway, hosted by @ABusyMomofTwo #giveaway http://bit.ly/fDw7iW)

• Follow A Busy Mom of Two. Subscribe to updates in your feed reader or in e-mail. Leave me a comment letting me know that you signed up, or that you already subscribe.

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• Leave a comment with a link to your blog where you have either my button or have a link to A Busy Mom of Two in your blog roll.

Giveaway will remain open until February 14th at 6 pm. Giveaway is opened to residents of the United States and Canada. One winner will be selected using a random number generator. The winner will be contacted by e-mail (be sure to leave one!) and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be selected.

I received no compensation for this post. I received an autographed advanced readers' copy of A Heartbeat Away from Michael Palmer to read and review. In addition, he also will be providing an autographed copy of the book for the giveaway.

Pretzels and Cheese Dip

A long while back, my cousin started bringing this amazing dip and soft pretzels to family events. It was really addictive. I'm not sure whether it was the cheese dip or the pretzels that made it so enticing, but it was. She had a bakery near where she lived that made these wonderful pretzel rolls and bites. I got the recipe from her for the cheese dip, but couldn't find pretzel bread anywhere. Wanting to recreate the experience at home, I tried frozen soft pretzels and I must say, they just were not the same. Recently, I stumbled upon a recipe for soft pretzels and decided to give them a try. With some Google research, I learned that I what I had been missing all of these years was a good boil in some water and baking soda. Boiling in this alkaline bath really helps to give the pretzels the finish that was expected. Of course, they say that lye is a better alkaline bath, but I don't keep that on hand, so at this point, I will take their word on it. Somewhere out there, I even found a post by someone who had done some side by side comparisons with and without the baking soda bath, egg wash, etc. It was informative - but alas, I didn't save the links.

Cheese Dip
One 8oz. block of cream cheese
One jar of Old English cheese

Mix well.

Soft Pretzels
1 1/2 c warm water
1 pkg active dry yeast
6 T butter, melted
2 T brown sugar
2 tsp kosher salt
4 1/2 c all purpose flour
1/2 c all purpose flour, for adjusting dough
2 T Vegetable oil
water w/ baking soda, 1 Tbsp of baking soda per cup of water
1 egg, beaten with a bit of water
Coarse sea salt

Combine the water, yeast, butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix with dough hook until combined. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Add the salt and 4 1/2c flour. Mix on low speed until combined. Increase the speed to medium and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and begins to pull away from the bowl. Add additional flour about 1 T at a time, as needed to get the right consistency. Remove dough from the bowl and form into a ball on your counter.

Add vegetable oil to a bowl and rotate to coat the bowl. Add the ball of dough to the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with towel and let rize until dough has about doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 425 (I use the vent from my oven to be the warm place where I have the dough rise).

Bring the water to a boil and add the baking soda. (be careful, it will bubble up when you do!)

Now, decide whether you are making pretzels, bites, or rolls. This will impact how you divide it. If you are making pretzels or bites, I would divide the dough into 10-12 pieces and roll into long ropes. For pretzels, twist them into braids on your counter. For bites, cut each rope into 1" pieces. (I got about 175 bites!) Add the pretzels to the boiling water and allow to boil for about one minute each. If your pan fits them, you can boil more than one at a time. Place the boiled pretzels on a greased cookie sheet (I used cooking spray). Brush the tops with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. (I didn't have any coarse sea salt, so I used just a bit of regular sea salt.) Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.

Serve with cheese dip or mustard. Perfect for a game time or anytime snack.

This post shared at the Ultimate Recipe Swap: Super Bowl Food and It's A Keeper Thursday.

CVS Deals - 1/31

Knowing that time was of the essence with coupons for some of this week's deals expiring on Monday, for the first time in a long time, I made an early week visit to CVS. I didn't get the Special K cereal, they didn't have the varieties I was looking for. Unfortunately, with this crazy snow and ice, I haven't had a chance to look at other locations to see what varieties that they have. I ran into some friends at the store and it worked out well when I needed something small to add to my order to use my ECBs. They came to the rescue with some clearance bathroom cleaner for $1.

2 - Herbal Essence Stylers
1 - Olay Body Wash
1 - Olay Complete Moisturizer
1 - Dayquil Sinex
3 - Kleenex Tissues
1 - Bathroom Cleaner

-$2.99 BOGO Herbal Essence Styler mfg coupon
-$2 Olay Body Wash mfg coupon
-$6 Buy One Body Wash Get One Complete Moisturizer (up to $6) mfg coupon
-$4 Sinex mfg coupon
-$.50 Kleenex mfg coupon

Paid with $14 in ECBs and $1.70 ($.45 plus $1.25 tax) OOP. Earned $16 ECBs, including Green Bag Tag ECB.