The Mountains Bow Down: Book Review and Giveaway

From the Publisher:

About The Mountains Bow Down: Everything's going to work out. Time away always makes things better . . ..

That's what FBI Special Agent Raleigh Harmon believes as she boards a cruise to Alaska. A land of mountains and gems and minerals, The Last Frontier is a dream destination for this forensic geologist who's hoping to leave behind a hectic work schedule and an engagement drained of romance.

But when a passenger goes missing and winds up dead, Raleigh's vacation suddenly gets lost at sea. The ship's security chief tries to rule the death a suicide, but Raleigh's forensics background points to a much darker conclusion: Somewhere onboard, a ruthless murderer walks free.

Engulfed by one of her toughest cases yet, Raleigh requests assistance from the FBI and receives her nemesis-perpetual ladies man Special Agent Jack Stephanson. As the cruise ship sails through the Inside Passage, Raleigh has five days to solve a high-profile murder, provide consultation for a movie filming onboard, and figure out her increasingly complicated feelings for Jack-who might not be such a jerk after all.

And that's only her work life. Family offers even more challenges. Joined on the cruise by her mother and aunt, Raleigh watches helplessly as disturbing rifts splinter her family.

Like the scenery that surrounds the cruise ship, Raleigh discovers a situation so steep and so complex that even the mountains might bow down.

My Review and A Book Giveaway:

I was a little bit worried when I realized I was starting Sibella Giorello's Raleigh Harmon series by reading the 4th book, but instead of being a problem, reading The Mountains Bow Down simply made me want to go back and check out the first 3 books in this series. My kids were sick and we weren't out of the house any, but I managed to sneak in reading time and finished it in only a day or two. I enjoyed the plot twists and the unpredictability of the murder mystery. I also appreciated the lack of guts and gore. The way Giorello beautifully paints the setting with words was also a big draw for me, as I would love to visit Alaska some day! Overall, this was a really good, quick read, mystery novel.

Did I mention that my kids were sick while I was reading this?? Yeah, well you now can benefit from my sleepless nights. As a result of too many all nighters I didn't realize I had received my copy for review, and by the time the second was on the way I found the original. So, now I have a copy to give away to one lucky reader. Simply leave a comment on this post and we'll let random.org choose a winner on April 1st at 11AM EST. Don't forget to leave your contact info in the comment.

Sibella’s celebrating the release of The Mountains Bow Down with a blog tour, a Cruise prize pack worth over $500 and a Facebook Party! Don't miss a minute of the fun.

One Grand Prize winner will receive:

• A $500 gift certificate toward the cruise of their choice from Vacations To Go.


• The entire set of the Raleigh Harmon series.

To enter click one of the icons below. Then tell your friends. And enter soon - the giveaway ends on 4/1! The winner will be announced at Sibella’s Raleigh Harmon Book Club Party on FB April 5th, 2011! Don’t miss the fun – prizes, books and gab!

About the Facebook Party: Join Sibella and fans of the Raleigh Harmon series on April 5th at 5:00 pm PST (6 MST, 7 CST & 8 EST) for a Facebook Book Club Party. Sibella will be giving away some fun prizes, testing your trivia skills and hosting a book chat about the Raleigh Harmon books. Have questions you'd like to chat about - leave them on the Event page.

This review is part of the LitFuse Publicity Groups' blog tour, so you can read what other bloggers have to say about this book as well by clicking here.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for review and a copy to give away to one reader. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. All opinions are 100% my own.