Jessica Simpson Confirms Pregnancy

Well, hallelujah. Jessica Simpson has finally confirmed that her large baby bump is indeed a baby bump. I was getting worried there. The singer and fashion designer, 31, tweeted a photo of herself on Monday wrapped up as a mummy––holding her baby bump a la Beyonce at the VMA’s. The caption? “It’s true – I’m going to be a mummy!” Haha. Oh, dear. This will be the first child for Simpson and fiancé Eric Johnson, a former NFL athlete. The couple were engaged in November.

Photo Credit: JessicaSimpson.com

Kim Kardashian to File for Divorce

Who saw this one coming? Oh, right––the majority of America! After Kim Kardashian received her 20.5 carat ring from NBA player Kris Humphries, the reality star and fiancée embarked on their engagement journey––all filmed courtesy of the E! network. When preparations for the wedding began, one could easily tell this couple was just not meant to be. The constant fights, Kim’s prissy attitude compared to the laid-back one Kris showed, the family’s angst against their new addition––who really thought this was going to last? Even the days right before the wedding seemed to be a joke. What I wondered––was it for real, or just a show for the cameras? Now the bigger question––was the whole wedding a joke?

Just 72 days after saying “I do” in a lavish ceremony in Montecito, California in front of 440 guests, Kim Kardashian is filing for divorce. Ryan Seacrest tweeted early today, “Yes @kimkardashian is filing for divorce this morning. I touched base with her, getting a statement in just a few minutes.” TMZ is reporting that Kardashian, 31, will not seek an annulment and plans to cite “irreconcilable differences in her filing.”

If you can’t tell, I’m just grossed out by this whole thing. The preparations that went into it, the time, effort, and money that went into making “Kim’s Fairytale Wedding” are all for a naught. Some “sources” are claiming that Kardashian knew before the wedding that she had made a mistake, but got “caught up” in the wedding planning and the fairytale aspect. How selfish. Usually, I am not this opinionated over celebrities, but this just really rubbed me the wrong way. And for how many viewers and followers Kim and the whole Kardashian family has––how does that look? To me, the message is no matter how much is costs or who it will affect, make sure you have your way. When it doesn’t work, marriage isn’t a big deal––just get a divorce! What a great role model.  Then again, this is the same woman who to rose to fame off a sex tape.

Update: Kim and Kris have both released statements. Kim: “After careful consideration, I have decided to end my marriage. I hope everyone understands this was not an easy decision. I had hoped this marriage was forever but sometimes things don’t work out as planned. We remain friends and wish each other the best.”

And Kris: “I’m committed to this marriage and everything this covenant represents. I love my wife and am devastated to learn she filed for divorce. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make it work.”

Hmm…the more I read, the more I’m thinking this is just another wonderful publicity stunt via the minds of the Kardashian’s. Desperate.

How do you feel about the divorce? Did you see it coming? Do you care?  Would love to get your thoughts!

 Photo Credit: Kevin Winter/NBC Universal/Getty Images

Chosen by Denise Grover Swank

I am a big fan of chick lit (no, really!) but every once in awhile I like to dip into another genre. When Denise Grover Swank questioned me about CLP Blog Tours being a good fit for her second novel––the paranormal romance Chosen––I immediately jumped at the chance. Denise impressed me on a whole new level when I read her debut Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes for her first blog tour go-round. Not surprisingly, my other bloggers jumped at the chance to host her again––even those who don’t normally go for paranormal reads. So how did Denise do with Chosen?

Stellar! Another page-turner that had me biting my nails and desperately clicking the ‘next’ page on my Kindle. Emma Thompson and her five-year-old son Jake have been on the run from bad men for years. Though Emma isn’t positive what these men want with her son, she knows it has to do with Jake’s ability to see into the future. While on the run, Emma meets Will, who offers to help her escape. Little does Emma know that Will is actually on the job––he is a mercenary who has been given orders to capture Emma.  Chosen is full of twists and turns and gasping and heart-breaking and blushing moments. The paranormal/fantasy aspect of Jake seeing in the future and the tattoos that mysteriously appear on Emma and Will are well written and flow with precision.  I was on my seat almost the entire time reading this, and the cliff hanger ending will leave you wanting to yell at Denise to hurry up with book number two! Another five star review for a Denise Grover Swank novel, who clearly shows her writing skills and ability to work with multiple genres.

[Rating: 5]

 

**Everyone who leaves a comment on Denise’s tour page will be entered to win a $10 Amazon gift card! If you purchase your copy of Chosen from October 31- November 21 and send your receipt to Samantha (at) ChickLitPlus (dot) com, you will get five bonus entries!**

http://www.denisegroverswank.com/

http://www.denisegroverswank.com/blog/blog/

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4921525.Denise_Grover_Swank

http://www.facebook.com/deniseswank

http://twitter.com/#!/DeniseMSwank

Our Eyes Met Over Cantaloupe by Anne McAneny

Anne McAneny is on tour with CLP Blog Tours and Our Eyes Met Over Cantaloupe. The story follows Millie Morris after she endures a bad breakup- over fried eggs.  Her ex informs her calmly that he has moved on- with their real estate agent. Millie is devastated, blindsided, but tries to continue on with life as normal. She works as a crime reporter, and also helps her mom run her cupcake shop The Secret Lives of Cupcakes. Just when she thinks her heart is healed, her ex comes back in a big way- he wants her back. Will Millie choose to give him a second chance, or will she ever find the strange man that made her heart flutter when their eyes met over cantaloupe at the supermarket?

I could tell from McAneny’s blog that she is a comedic writer, so I was looking forward to a book filled with laughs- and that is just what I got. The writing is snappy, the characters are fresh and funny, and plenty of scenes had me laughing out loud. And I just adored reading about the cupcake shop! And salivated a bit as well. This book will leave you craving for cupcakes, give you plenty of laughs, and also be very entertaining to read. There were a few times that I wanted to give Millie a good shake and tell her to stop letting her slimy ex worm his back into her life, but, hey- that happens right? The ending even gave me a nice surprise, and overall, I really enjoyed this book. I recommend it to chick lit fans!

[Rating: 4]

**Thank you to Anne for letting CLP Blog Tours host her! There are two giveaways going on: 1) a $10 Amazon gift card and 2) a dozen cupcakes from Stuffed Cupcakes shipped directly to your house, courtesy of Anne! Please visit Anne’s tour page to be entered.**

On Tour: Chosen by Denise Grover Swank

Denise will be on tour October 31-November 21 with her novel Chosen

Everything Emma Thompson owns fits in a suitcase she moves from one roach infested motel to another. She and Jake, her five year old son who can see the future, are running from the men intent on taking him. Emma will do anything to protect him even when it means accepting the help of a stranger named Will. Jake insists she needs Will, but Emma’s never needed help before. And even though she’s learned to trust her son, it doesn’t mean she trusts Will.

Mercenary Will Davenport lives in the moment. Hauling Emma to South Dakota should have been an easy job, but his employer neglected to tell him about Emma’s freaky son and the gunmen hot on her trail. Instinct tells him this job is trouble, but nothing can prepare him for Jake’s proclamation that Will is The Chosen One, who must protect Emma from the men hunting her power. A power she doesn’t know she has.

Will protects Emma and Jake on a cross-country chase from the men pursuing them, while struggling with memories from his past, his apprehension of Jake, and his growing attraction to Emma. Will’s overwhelming urge to protect Emma surprises him, especially since it has nothing to do with his paycheck and possibly everything to do with the tattoo Jake branded on his arm. Rich and powerful men are desperate to capture Emma, and Will must discover why before it’s too late.

Please visit CLP Blog Tours for all the reviews, guest posts, and interviews! **Everyone who leaves a comment on Denise’s tour page will be entered to win a $10 Amazon gift card! If you purchase your copy of Chosen from October 31- November 21 and send your receipt to Samantha (at) ChickLitPlus (dot) com, you will get five bonus entries!**

In My Mailbox: Week of October 30

In My Mailbox: Week of October 30

 

 Title: Hot Water

Author: Erin Brockovich with CJ CLyons

Received: From Leyane @ FSB Media

Synopsis: No stranger to balancing an intensely demanding work schedule with the stresses of keeping her family together, AJ Palladino now faces another challenge: she is leaving her young son home with her ailing parents so that she can travel to the site of a new case involving a nuclear power plant in peril. And it will take all her skills to keep her cool while the action and tension build to a fever pitch.

Colleton River, a new, one-of-a-kind nuclear facility designed to create medical isotopes with the potential to save millions of lives, has recently been plagued by a series of unexplained mishaps. The accidents have caused the locals to protest the plant, drawing the attention of an anti-nuclear protest group as well as several home-grown terrorists who sense an opportunity to sow fear and chaos. The plant’s owner, Owen Grandel, has traveled from South Carolina to West Virginia to personally ask AJ for help. AJ knows she’s going to have her hands full investigating the accidents and calming the situation at the plant. What she doesn’t foresee is her simple business trip turning into disaster, with her family coming apart at the seams in her absence—and her young son disappearing. While AJ tries to find her missing child, she also discovers what caused the “accidents.” Soon the plant begins hurtling towards nuclear catastrophe, with AJ stranded at ground zero. But can she save her son, herself, and the community—and prevent a nuclear meltdown before it’s too late?

 

Title: Too Much Trouble in Paradise

Author: Michelle Betham

Received: From Michelle Bethan

Synopsis: Molly Parker is a DWAG – a darts wife and girlfriend. Or rather, she’s an ex-DWAG after divorcing Paul “Bad Lad” Parker, a professional darts player and the self-pronounced Geordie pantomime villain of the sport, after catching him aiming more than his arrows in the direction of more than a few very willing glamour models.
So, leaving her life – and her ex-husband – behind in their native North East of England, she moves to the Canarian island of Tenerife with her best friend Fran, putting the past behind her, determined to start a whole new life abroad.
Within months of arriving on the island she finds herself engaged to her Spanish boyfriend Antonio – a handsome Canarian bar owner – and with their whirlwind wedding just weeks away she’s the happiest she’s been in a long time with a great job at a Timeshare complex, fantastic friends, and a lovely little home in a country she’s fallen completely in love with.
But what Molly didn’t bank on was her ex-husband turning up out of the blue declaring his undying love for her and begging her to come back to him – and not just because his darts were suffering! His unannounced arrival turns Molly’s new and seemingly perfect life upside down as she suddenly has to face up to feelings she’d thought were long gone, and make decisions she never thought she’d have to make as her whole world is thrown into total confusion. Does she stay in Tenerife and marry her wonderful, romantic, drop-dead-gorgeous Spanish fiancé? Or does she give the man she’d once loved but who’d treated her so badly another chance? Days in the sun or darts – it’s the choice she has to make. Throw in a Bolton-born lounge singer and a Take That tribute act, a famous TV actor with a reputation as a shameless flirt, and a major darts tournament that throws up more than it’s fair share of surprises, and all of a sudden Molly Parker’s life really is ‘Too Much Trouble in Paradise’ – a story of new beginnings, second chances, sun, sea – and darts!

 

Title: Growing Up Beautiful

Author: Lori Jones

Received: From Lori Jones

Synopsis: In the summer of 1986, three young American models are chosen to join a modeling agency in Europe’s fashion capital of Milan. United as roommates by chance, Star, Joanne and Casey soon find their dreamed-of careers as models taking paths as different as their personalities.

Star, who leaves behind a waitress job along with a handful of crumpled up dollar tips, sees her beauty as a way to move to the top of Milan’s social strata.

Joanne, raised in a privileged lifestyle, is expected to continue an Ivy League education, which doesn’t interest her as much as a young photographer she meets on a casting.

Casey is a naive seventeen year old who is ready for adventure, even the dangerous kind.

Together, these three learn the funny, unexpected and sometimes ugly truth about growing up beautiful.

 

Take it Like a Mom by Stephanie Stiles

Take It Like a Mom by Stephanie Stiles offers a humorous yet very real look on motherhood, especially that of a stay at home mom. Our heroine is Annie Fingart Foster, a once flashy lawyer who has given up her business suits and power status to become….a stay at home mom. Her three-year-old son Robby is a handful, and Annie is somewhat horrified when she finds out she is expecting baby number two. After the initial shock, she feels everything will be okay- until her world starts to spin out of control. Her husband loses his job, the school Robby attends and some of the parents are nightmares, and now she has go through the hideous transformation of carrying a child once again. Annie does her best to suck it up, take it like a mom, and keep a smile on her face and her family in one piece.

I’ll point out again (like I do in every mom chick lit book) that I am not a mother, but this book is so and funny charming that you can’t help appreciate the writing and the characters. Annie is the perfect heroine- self-deprecating, witty and strong. Even though her family is going through some rough times, the love she has for her husband and son is clear to see and nice to read about. There are a lot of pop culture references scattered about that kept me entertained, and some of the supporting characters- like Lippie the Hippie- are super funny. Overall, I thought this was a really fun book and Stiles has a firm grasp on comedic writing that helps turn serious topics into lighthearted ones. I look forward for more to come!

[Rating: 4]

On Tour: With Just One Click by Amanda Strong

Amanda will be on tour October 31-November 14 with her novel With Just One Click

“Reluctance was matched with a pit in my stomach; once I joined, anyone could randomly find me…did I really want to be found?” Chloe, a successful movie reviewer and serial dater, finds herself added as a friend by her first love. The one who left her at seventeen standing with a note in her hand as he simply walked away. Will she allow herself to open old wounds? Morgan, a loyal stay-at-home mom and wife, discovers one of her husband’s friends is his very single and flirtatious ex-girlfriend from high school. Will obsession and jealousy tear her solid marriage apart when she hunts for the truth? Brynn, a lonely forty year-old living with her two distant teenage children and workaholic husband, fights temptation while revisiting the past with one of her friends. Will her deception destroy her family? Three lives changed forever WITH JUST ONE CLICK. Confirming a friend isn’t as simple as it seems… but do these women have more in common than just Facebook?

Please visit CLP Blog Tours to see all the reviews, interviews, and guest posts! **Everyone who leaves a comment below will be entered to win a $10 Amazon gift card! If you purchase your copy of With Just One Click  from October 27- November 14  and send your receipt to Samantha (at) ChickLitPlus (dot) com, you will get five bonus entries!**

Blog Tour Sign Up: Thank You For Flying Air Zoe by Erik Atwell

Erik Atwell will be on tour in January/February with his novel chick lit Thank You For Flying Air Zoe. Please note this book will be available as a print copy for US/Canada residents, and eBook worldwide. Use the sign up form below if you would like to be included. Erik will also be available for guest posts or interviews. I will contact all bloggers that are chosen for the tour. Thank you!

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fasten Seat Belt sign has been turned on, but feel free to ignore it, because sometimes life is best lived on its dizzy edges. Your cruising altitude today will be sky high, and you will be flying at staggering speeds as you travel alongside Zoe Tisdale, former Valley Girl and rock star turned bored butter saleswoman.

On the heels of a brush with mortality, Zoe concludes that she’s been letting time pass her by. Realizing she needs to awaken her life’s tired refrains, Zoe vows to recapture the one chapter of her life that truly mattered to her – her days as drummer for The Flip-Flops, a spirited, sassy all-girl garage band that almost hit the big time back in 1987. But reuniting the band won’t be easy. The girls who were once the whiz kid guitarist, the prom queen bass player, and the hippie lead singer grew up and became women who are now a reclusive dog trainer, a wealthy socialite, and a sociopathic environmentalist. Will Zoe bring the band back together and give The Flip-Flops a second chance at stardom? Is it possible to fully reclaim the urgent energy of youth?

As you follow this wild flight path, please know that your destination could be anywhere at all, complimentary oxygen is provided upon request, and baggage flies free. We hope you enjoy the ride, and Thank You For Flying Air Zoe.

**Erik’s tour is now full. Thank you to everyone who signed up!**

Destined to Fail- eBooks Available

Well, I’ll be. My eBooks are here. Like- you can buy them. Yep. It’s official. Destined to Fail is for sale. That is so surreal to type. And to say. It has only been three days, but I don’t think it has quite sunk in yet. And get this- people are buying my book! Say what?? I can’t believe it. I’m hoping the shock feeling will wear off sometime soon.

Anyways, the eBooks are here. As of right now, they are available on Smashwords and Amazon. I also have a GoodReads author page that you can visit, and my Samantha March website. Samantha March is also on Facebook and Twitter. I’m all over the place My paperbacks should become available as scheduled in November, so be on the lookout for those if you are not an eReader lover yet. For all you lovely book bloggers that have embarked on many blog tours with me and CLP Blog Tours- don’t you worry, I will be going on tour. You should be hearing from me shortly.

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me throughout my journey. Many of you are in my acknowledgement, so be sure to find your name in there. I couldn’t have done this alone. All the writing, re-writing, editing, revisions, formatting (I hate formatting), designing, uploading…has led to this. Now the fun part- and frightening part. Having readers. Getting reviews. I know not everyone will love the book. I hope not everyone hates it. But I do hope you enjoy and appreciate Jasmine’s journey, and take away a little something from Destined to Fail. Of course, I would love to see reviews on Amazon and other sites, your own blogs, or little comments on this website. Feel free to email me anytime as well. I am preparing for a whirlwind of marketing, but will also be continuing work on my second novel. I’m hoping to release that one by the spring of 2012. Listen to me- talking about my next release. Surreal. Thanks again for all the support, encouragement, and guidance.

 

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