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Scotland by Starlight by Nancy Volkers

Cassie Wrentham is moving to Scotland. She will finally be with Ralph Macnair, the (much) older but charismatic Scotsman she fell for on her first visit to the country. Cassie hopes she is finally ready to settle down and start a great life, but her doubts start crowding her way. She worries about finding a job, affording rent, making new friends, and if she should marry Ralph. Would it only be for convenience and a Visa? Or were she and Ralph truly meant to be?
Scotland by Starlight is the sequel to A Scottish Ferry Tale by Nancy Volkers. I actually liked this more than the first novel, and quickly became enchanted by the characters and their story. Cassie was very relatable in her reluctance to get married, and Ralph practically had me swooning for him throughout the pages. One thing I would change would be the heavy Scottish dialogue. Sometimes I couldn’t understand what he was saying and that snapped me out of my trance. One other thing too would be giving just a bit of information that reader’s learned in the first novel. Some characters and situations were brought up in Starlight that I couldn’t exactly remember. It’s hard to balance between saying too much and boring readers with facts they already know, and giving away the right amount of information to help jog the memories. But let’s talk about the ending that you will never see coming. I sure didn’t. I don’t want to give away too much here, but you will cry. And cry some more. Be prepared for a shocking conclusion.
[Rating: 3.5]

Future Tour: Here by Denise Grover Swank

Denise will be on tour December 12-January 2 with her novel Here. Sixteen year old Julia Phillips buries herself in guilt after killing her best…

On Tour: Dollars to Donuts by Kathleen Kole

Kathleen in on tour with Dollars to Donuts from November 7-28. Take one newspaper columnist; move her from the anonymity of her home city to…

Blog Tour Sign Up: Mad About the Boy by Suzan …

Suzan will be on tour in January/February with her romance novel Mad About the Boy. This will be an eBook only tour. Please use the…

Interview with Anne McAneny

Q: Why is writing a passion for you?

It’s one of the few things I can do for 8 hours straight without reaching for M&M’s every 20 minutes.

Q: Where do you find inspiration for your stories and characters?

I read everything from cereal boxes to political editorials, from off-kilter magazines to other people’s personal notes (if I can catch a glimpse). It all gets churned through a warped WHAT IF gear in my head. No different than other people’s minds. It’s just that my wacky conclusions get written down.

Many ideas come to me while exercising. For example, thinking about how I would act as a hostage during a bank robbery led to wondering about who would make an ideal hostage, which led to pondering if a blind person would be a good hostage, which led to musing about a blind hostage who merely pretends to be blind… but who would do that? An actress, of course! And all of that resulted in a screenplay I wrote that’s been very well-received — and is available for any producers out there reading this… wink-wink.

Q: Can you describe your latest novel, Our Eyes Met Over Cantaloupe in twenty words or less?

No way! Wait, do those count? Fourteen left… What happens after someone places a cheesy personal ad… or refuses to?

Q: Besides writing books, you have also written screenplays. How does your writing process differ for these, or how is it the same?

Screenplays and novels both have to be well-constructed stories with heart and plot, but screenplays do it with far fewer words. In a screenplay, each description or set-up is limited to 4 lines or less so each word must be treated like gold.

Novels intimidated me at first because writing descriptive prose is like smashing my head against a cinder block: do it hard enough and long enough, and something worthwhile might fall onto the page – from either my head or the cinder block. You might notice my books are plot-driven with plenty of dialogue and relatively short scenes. That comes from having learned to write efficient, visual screenplays. And even though novels can stretch to 100,000 words or more, I try to value each word.

Q: What are your thoughts on the surge of eBooks? Do you own an eReader?

Ebooks are the iTunes of the publishing industry. They’re shaking it up and they’re here to stay so we might as well embrace them. Besides, what’s not to love? I used to lug around expensive, hard-cover books and now I can carry 50 e-books on my iTouch and even read them in the dark! It’s like the week I spent in the hospital at age five, all x-rays and needles. Guess what I remember about it? The TV remote. At home, we had a 12” black and white television with three channels and a manual dial. The remote control seemed light years ahead. I was living the high life! To me, e-book technology is the great game-changer. It’s that amazing, needle-filled week we all remember so fondly from childhood.

Ebooks also allowed me to find a real, live, reading audience for which I am grateful every minute of every day. My readers are even better than a remote!

Q: Who are a few authors that you would love to work with?

Helen Fielding, Nicholas Hornby, Jennifer Weiner, the late Erma Bombeck. And John Irving – but I wouldn’t speak to him – I’d just gape in awe.

Q: How important do you think social media is for authors?

I’m a bit of a social media Newbie but I think it’s going to play a huge role once everybody cracks the code. John Locke used Twitter and blogs to sell over a million e-books. Others have followed suit. We’re going to see rapid, mind-blowing changes as entire new industries blossom around e-books and social media. I love seeing the entrepreneurial spirit of individuals, i.e., Blog Tour Sites (go ChickLitPlus!), e-book cover design companies, e-book trailer producers, promotional websites, etc.

Q: What are you currently reading?

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME by Mark Haddon; THE BOOK THIEF by Markus Zusak; and just finished BEL CANTO by Ann Patchett. All excellent.

Q: Where would be your dream vacation?

Belgium. Belgian chocolate and Belgian beer. ‘Nuff said.

Q: What is your advice to aspiring writers?

Know your story before you begin and write towards its wonderful conclusion. If you change your story midstream (which you probably will), go back and edit, edit, edit. And of course, read Anne McAneny’s books – not for any great writing lessons, but because it will help me get to Belgium. Thanks!

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]

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…

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…

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…