Giveaway & Review: The Skin Map by Stephen R. Lawhead

Summary:
Kit Livingstone has been invited on the journey of his lifetime - of any lifetime. A quest to find a map that turns into a greater treasure quest than anyone can imagine. The Skin Map  is the first book of The Bright Empires Novels, a new fiction series from Stephen R. Lawhead, author of the King Raven trilogy, the Song of Albion trilogy, the Dragon King trilogy, and the Pendragon Cycle series.

My Thoughts:
This book was a fantastic journey that was hard to put down. It combines science, history, mystery, and alternate realities. The first sentence of the first chapter draws you in:

"Had he but known that before the day was over he would discover the hidden dimensions of the universe, Kit might have been better prepared. At least he would have brought an umbrella."

The day that Kit meets his great-grandfather, his world is turned upside down. Or inside out. Or maybe sideways. Lawhead is able to weave a story that draws you in and takes you on a journey. This particular journey leads you in imagining the possibility of "ley lines" that allow you to travel from one reality to another - from one world to another. What would happen if there were streets that you could walk down and travel from your world into another world? Dropping you into a reality that is slightly different from your reality - or a reality that occurred in ancient history? And imagine that there was a map, a Skin Map, that had the directions to take you back home. But you had to find that map in the various realities - and before the thugs find it.

This book was wonderfully written. The scientific explanations were written to be easy to understand, and the descriptions of ancient history brought this alive. This left me wanting to read The Bone House, the next book in the series, but I'll have to wait until September 2011!

• Visit the author's website at StephenLawhead.com  and view the trailer!
• Visit the Thomas Nelson product page
• Buy the book at Amazon.com for $16.49 (sponsored link)

Giveaway Rules:
I have been given a hard cover copy of this brand new book to give away to one of my readers! When leaving comments below, please be sure that either your Google profile or your comment contains your email or blog address. The giveaway is open until Saturday, September 11th at 8am. If I don't hear from the winner within 3 days, I will pick another winner. Here are ways to earn up to 3 entries:

• First entry: Leave a comment on this post.
• Second entry: Subscribe through Google Followers, RSS, or email and leave a comment on this post.
• Third entry: Share this giveaway with your Facebook friends, Twitter friends, or on your blog. Come back and leave a comment on this post with a link to your post. (Click the icons below to share via Facebook or other media.)

Suggested Tweet: Book giveaway by @MindyAumann - The Skin Map by Stephen R. Lawhead. Enter at http://bit.ly/aml5Um - Ends 9/11.

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their book review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.