Since I started this blog people now and again have emailed me asking me to try out a product, service, or website and I am generally reluctant to say yes. I have this very personal pet peeve. I hate blogs that have advertising posts in them. (Sorry Dae!) Still I am usually torn because on the flip side, I love free stuff. To make matters worse, I REALLY love free stuff that comes in the mail. Some part of me still equates opening boxes of new stuff with Christmas I guess.

When a friend of Susan Warren, author of the not yet released book, Backyard Giants, sent me an email asking me to look over her new book I had to pause before firing back the normal polite decline. Here was an offer to combine several of my favorite things; books, giant pumpkins, packages in the mail, and free stuff. It the end my greed won and I agreed to take a look at the book. It arrived very shortly thereafter and I had exactly 3:30 seconds to preview it as I stood in the mail/break room waiting for my Lean Cuisine to microwave. I'm not sure how long I actually stood there reading, but by the time one of my colleagues walked in to microwave her Lean Cuisine meal I was 27 pages in.

I love this book. I hate this book. I loved reading this book in my office when I was suppose to be working. I hate the fact that I am just now getting caught up with all the work I needed to do last week, including this blog! Susan Warren has a very easy, conversational writing style that lends itself to being one of those lovely light reads that I personally cherish. I found myself promising only one more chapter. It's fun, it's funny, it's heartbreaking and the stories are inspiring. Some of the information inside is simply mind boggling. She writes "Dick and Ron figured that if they were going to have a shot at 1,500 pounds, they had to have a 400 to 500 pound pumpkin by the end of July. Then they'd have to push to add 800 pounds in August." And you thought MY big pumpkin grew fast!

I found myself relating to these guys even though I was nursing a tired and wound down BP in my back yard. I was rooting for them and puzzled by them. Their heartache was mine. It made me reconsider again whether or not there would be another BP in the back yard next year.

The cover of the book is different from the one in the picture though. I like the one that they ultimately chose. The picture of that pumpkin makes me want to grow one even more. Can you imagine?!!

The book is available starting September 4. As a reader I would recommend this book. As a pumpkin grower I would definitely recommend this book. Those of you who have shared big pumpkin's ups and downs with me would love this peek into the world of competitive pumpkin growing.