Our Winter 2008 Newsletter is now online here. This issue includes a review / travel essay by Mary, mom of the Reading Rock Books co-owners, about the bestselling book Dewey and Mary’s trip to Spencer, Iowa, where the book takes place. It also includes information about IndieBound Wish Lists, an author interview with Anna Maria Horner, and our Holiday Gift Guide.

If you’re still looking for more gift ideas for Christmas, you might be interested in this list from independent booksellers, which aired on today’s “Morning Edition” and features Laura’s former co-worker Lucia Silva, book buyer for Portrait of a Bookstore.

Don’t forget to come register for our doll giveaway! We’re giving away Kit, an American Girl Doll! Our drawing will be held on December 20th, so you still have time to come register.

We had a great time at the Christmas in Downtown event last night! It was cold outside and everyone was bundled up tight.

We now have pictures up of the Christmas Parade, which took place on November 30. Reading Rock Books will be moving to Main St. in February! We’re very excited to be moving into a larger space. You can find pictures of our new location as well as pictures of last night’s event here. Merry Christmas!

Hail to the Chef is a fast-paced culinary mystery centered on the White House executive chef Olivia “Ollie” Paras. With only a few months as the executive chef under her apron belt, Ollie finds herself planning the upcoming Thanksgiving feast and the Christmas Decorator Tour all while deferring matchmaking attempts by the First Lady with her nephew and a Senator’s assistant begging for preferential treatment for the Senator’s children’s entries in the countrywide gingerbread man decorating contest. After an attempted terrorist attack, the head White House electrician is electrocuted, and the First Lady’s nephew dies under suspicious circumstances, Ollie, suspecting more is going on than meets the eye, has to watch her back as she questions the recent events at the White House.

Hail to the Chef is the second book in the highly praised White House Chef Mystery series by Julie Hyzy. Hyzy’s first book, State of the Onion, tells of Ollie trying out for executive chef while getting caught up in a White House intruder attempt by a world-class assassin. Both of these books grab you at the beginning and keep you interested until the very end.