Panera Gift Card Giveaway
Thanks to Yessi Smith, author of Life’s A Cappella for sponsoring this giveaway on Chick Lit Plus! Use the Rafflecopter below to win, and be sure to…
CLP Blog Tours Book Review: Miss Kane’s Christmas by …
Caroline Mickelson is on tour now with CLP Blog Tours and Miss Kane’s Christmas
Summary:
With Christmas only three days away, Carol Claus agrees to her father’s request that she leave the North Pole on a mission to help save Christmas. Joining single father Ben Hanson and his children for the holidays seems an easy enough task until Santa informs her that Ben is the man behind the disturbing new book ‘Beyond Bah Humbug: Why Lying to Your Children about Santa Claus is a Bad Idea’.
Posing as Miss Kane, the children’s new nanny, Carol pulls out all the stops to show Ben how fun Christmas can be, all the while struggling to understand how one man could hate the holidays so much. How could she, Santa’s only daughter, be so attracted to a man who refuses to believe her father exists?
Review:
What a cute little concept for a book! I loved the idea of a real Santa – come on, who doesn’t – and the sweet twist with him having a daughter falling for someone who so firmly believes the magic of Christmas isn’t real that he’s writing a book about it was so fun to read! This is a novella so it’s a quick read, and I had a great time devouring this in a day. If you don’t think too hard about all the logistics – how can Santa really give presents without the parents being alarmed being the biggest I could think of – and just let yourself enjoy the world Mickelson creates, I think you’ll have a blast reading this one. I’m in the holiday mood after finishing this fun and festive book!
4 stars
Author Bio:
Caroline Mickelson loves her family and loves to write. She also loves a good adventure, among her favorites thus far were attending graduate school in a Scottish castle, riding a camel around the Pyramids in Giza, and taking a best-in-a-lifetime road trip to Graceland. Caroline lives in the American southwest with her husband and their four children, affectionately known as The Miracles.
Connect with Caroline!
Website: www.carolinemickelson.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/CarolineM67
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorcarolinemickelson
Buy the Book!
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Miss-Kanes-Christmas-Romantic-Comedy-ebook/dp/B009SU0NVO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1384270852&sr=8-2&keywords=caroline+mickelson
B & N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/miss-kanes-christmas-caroline-mickelson/1117004957?ean=2940148746034
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/miss-kane-s-christmas
Blog Tour Sign Up: Hard Hats and Doormats by Laura …
Lexi Burke has always been a stickler for following rules and procedures. As a human resources manager for a leading Gulf Coast chemical company, it’s her job to make sure everyone else falls in line, too.
But after losing out on a big promotion–-because her boss sees her as too much of a yes-woman––Lexi adopts a new policy of following her heart instead of the fine print. And her heart knows what it wants: Jason Beaumont, a workplace crush who is off limits based on her previous protocol.
While navigating a new romance and interoffice politics, Lexi must find the confidence to stand on her own or face a lifetime of following someone else’s orders.
Who says nice girls have to finish last?
Future Tour: The Holdout by Laurel Osterkamp
Laurel will be on tour January 6-24 with her women’s fiction novel The Holdout Robin wanted to win The Holdout, a cutthroat reality TV show, so…
In My Mailbox: Week of November 17
Title: The Hole in the Middle
Author: Kate Hilton
Received: CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: I Don’t Know How She Does It for the This Is 40 generation.
Sophie Whelan is the epitome of the modern super woman. When she operates at peak performance, she can cajole balky employees, soothe her cranky children, trouble-shoot career disasters, throw a dinner party for 10, and draft an upbeat Christmas letter—all in the same day.
But as Sophie’s 40th birthday looms, her seamless life reveals disturbing web-like fractures. Conflict with her boss, blossoming jealousy of her husband’s femme fatale business partner, and her feelings of hopeless inadequacy as a mother and daughter, are cracking the edifice of her life.
Rescue may be at hand when Lillian Parker, a wealthy widow who befriended Sophie during her university days, makes Sophie an irresistible offer. Why, then, does Sophie hesitate? The answer is the reappearance of Lillian’s nephew, Will Shannon, the great unresolved love of Sophie’s life. As she remembers the vivid drama of their college romance, Sophie confronts the choices she has made in life and in love and looks for the one answer that has always eluded her: what does she really want?
The Hole in the Middle is a heartbreaking love story, a laugh-out-loud portrayal of the twin demands of work and family, and a fresh take on the hot debate about having it all. It is not to be missed.
Title: Just For Christmas
Author: Scarlett Bailey
Received: Unsolicited
Synopsis: Her best friend’s wedding…
When Alex Munro learns that the love of her life is getting married to another girl, all she wants is to be alone – and as far away from Edinburgh as possible.
Moving to a Cornish cottage, which comes complete with the world’s scruffiest dog, Alex finds that her new neighbours are determined to involve her in their madcap Christmas festivities.
Then she meets her sexy neighbour Ruan – and somehow Alex doesn’t want to be alone this Christmas after all. But having lost one fiancé, Ruan has no intention of letting anyone get close to him again…
Title: Fallen
Author: Traci L Slatton
Received: Traci L Slatton
Synopsis: As chaos descends on a crippled Earth, survivors are tormented by strange psychic gifts. In this time of apocalyptic despair, love is put to the test. One woman with mysterious healing power guides seven children to safety. Charismatic Arthur offers her a haven. Slowly Emma falls for him. But at the moment of their sweetest love, his devastating secret is revealed, and they are lost to each other.
Title: There’s More to Life Than Cupcakes
Author: Poppy Dolan
Received: Novelicious Books
Synopsis: A romantic and deliciously witty bestseller, perfect for fans of Mhairi McFarlane, Jenny Colgan and, of course, The Great British Bake Off.
Ellie Redford has a husband, a job and a home. According to the rest of the world, it’s baby o’clock already. Shame life doesn’t come with a recipe…
Ellie knows that starting a family with lovely husband Pete would be an amazing adventure. Pete would make a brilliant dad and she’d have an excuse to eat shed loads of Cherry Bakewell. But Ellie’s bestie would rather she was up at 3 a.m. with a bottle of Malibu, not formula. And with redundancies looming, Ellie’s boss isn’t exactly going to throw her a shower if she disappears for a year, with pay.
While Ellie juggles her feelings (and everyone else’s) as competently as a drunken clown, she finds herself signing up for a baking class, alongside the young, free and sizzling hot Joe. As they work buns and shape tarts, is there more to their friendship than a shared appreciation of Paul Hollywood?
Ellie’s soufflés may be rising, but her personal life is one big soggy mess. If she doesn’t make a decision soon, she may just lose everything that matters to her. Maybe it’s time to take off the pinny and face up to the truth: there’s more to life than cupcakes…
Title: Undressing Mr. Darcy
Author: Karen Doornebos
Received: Penguin Group
Synopsis: Taking it off in the name of history…
Thirty-five-year-old American social media master Vanessa Roberts lives her thoroughly modern life with aplomb. So when her elderly Jane Austen–centric aunt needs her to take on the public relations for Julian Chancellor, a very private man from England who’s written a book called My Year as Mr. Darcy, Vanessa agrees. But she’s not “excessively diverted,” as Jane Austen would say.
Hardbound books, teacups, and quill pens fly in the face of her e-reader, coffee, and smartphone…
…Until she sees Julian take his tight breeches off for his Undressing Mr. Darcy show, an educational “striptease” down to his drawers to promote his book and help save his crumbling estate. The public relations expert suddenly realizes things have gotten…personal. But can this old-fashioned man claim her heart without so much as a GPS? It will take three festivals filled with Austen fans, a trip to England, an old frenemy, and a flirtatious pirate re-enactor to find out…
Book Giveaway: Sweet Nothings by Janis Thomas
I have one copy of Sweet Nothings by Janis Thomas for giveaway! To enter, please use the Rafflecopter below. This is open to US residents only, and thanks to…
Book Review: The Sister Season by Jennifer Scott
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Summary:
Sometimes coming home for the holidays isn’t as easy as it seems….
It’s December 21, and the Yancey sisters have been called home. When the girls were young, holidays at their family farm meant a tinsel-garnished tree, the scent of simmering food, and laughter ringing through the house. But as the years unfolded, family bonds fractured, and the three sisters scattered and settled into separate lives. Until now. The Yancey sisters are coming to spend the holidays with their mother. They’re also coming to bury their father.
Claire, the youngest, a free spirit who journeyed to California, returns first. Then comes Julia, the eldest, a college professor with a teenage son of her own. And finally there’s Maya, the middle child, who works so hard to be the perfect mother and wife.
During the sisters’ week together, old conflicts surface, new secrets emerge, and the limits and definitions of family are tested. And as the longest night of the year slips by and brightening days beckon, the sisters will have to answer one question: When you’re a sister, aren’t you a sister forever?
Review:
I have been quite lucky with my books lately, as they all have been such page turners. The Sister Season continued that trend, and this book delivers an emotional read that left my tearing up, shaking my head, but also smiling through it all. The Yancey’s are one dysfunctional family, I don’t think anyone can argue with that. Years of abuse on all four women – Elise and her three daughters – leaves no one sad when their father passes away. But the family comes together around Christmas time for his funeral and for a final good-bye. All the sisters are in the middle of their own drama – some worse than the others – but it makes for a terrific and fast-paced read. I thought this book was very honest. Family isn’t easy. Being a mother or sister or wife isn’t easy. Their problems were thrust out there – bare and raw and at times hard to wrap my mind around, hard to understand why certain decisions were being made. I read this book in one day because I had to find out how the story ended, had to see if the sisters could stick together, and had to find out the truth about Robert’s death, which is a bit of a mystery since the beginning. Highly recommend.
4.5 stars
Book Review: Where The Pink Houses Are by Rebekah Ruth
I was given this book in exchange for an honest review
Where the pink houses are is a story about 2 women who lost their husbands and are learning how to heal from their heartbreaking loss. Brenna and her MIL Anna travel to Ireland in their effort to heal their hearts. It turns out to be a life changing experience and an amazing journey for them both. For Anna is it a story of coming home. For Brenna it is more of discovering her home.
Most of the story is Brenna’s and how she moved on from losing her husband at such an early age. She begins to really come into herself throughout the story and it was amazing to watch her grow and change.
Brenna decides to get out and work and meet people and fun enough she really starts to come out of her shell and develop her adult self. She makes friends and an enemy or two as well. She starts attending the local church and is amazed to find she wants to develop her spiritual self as well.
This story is a romance story, but it is also a well written lesson as well. There is talk about god and church, but it is not so overwhelming that you are put off from it. Mostly it’s sweet to see how during a dark time getting closer to your spiritual self can actually help you through it and help you to grow from it.
I LOVED this story; it was an amazing love story without the bedroom stuff. I believe the greatest love stories don’t need to be all about the intimate stuff and this author proves that. This is a great story for young adults and as a mature audience, it was written in a way that both can read and enjoy it.
CLP Blog Tours Book Review: Diner Impossible by Terri L …
Terri L Austin is on tour now with CLP Blog Tours and Diner Impossible
Summary:
After shunning her overbearing parents’ wealthy lifestyle, waitress and part-time college student, Rose Strickland, is drawn back into their world when she tries to prove the impossible: the innocence of the town’s crooked police chief. He’s suspected in the gruesome death of Delia Cummings, his secretary and mistress, and all the evidence points to him. While she tracks down clues with the aid of her anime-loving bestie, Rose’s pal, Axton, and his Klingon gang are feuding with their Starfleet rivals. Things get hairier than a pile of well-fed Tribbles, so Rose gets involved. In between interrogating Trekkies and quizzing socialites at high tea, she discovers the secrets Delia Cummings took to her grave. Suspects abound, but when Chief Mathers threatens to bring down Rose’s criminally mischievous and maybe boyfriend, Sullivan, she makes it her mission to find the real killer before Sullivan finds himself in prison. Part of the Henery Press Mystery Series Collection, if you like one, you’ll probably like them all! Diner Impossible is the third in the Rose Strickland humorous mystery series. In case you missed the first two, check out Diners, Dives & Dead Ends (#1) and Last Diner Standing (#2). Plus, Diners Keepers, Losers Weepers, a Rose Strickland novella, will be in the mystery anthology The Heartache Motel (December 2013).
Review:
I have been loving this series, and it was great to pick right back up and continue on with Rose’s life. The newest murder mystery she finds herself in has a bit of a twist – her mother also wants her to get involved and figure out the real murderer. Rose’s family is known to disapprove of her antics – not finished with school, working as a waitress, solving crimes, etc, – so when her mother calls on her for a favor, it throws Rose through a loop. I loved watching as she went to the country club with her mother and tried to fit in, it gave me a few good laughs. Focusing on the mystery aspect, I loved loved loved that I honestly was shocked when the murderer was revealed. When it’s obvious from the beginning (which I have read quite a few that way) it’s so hard to hold my interest. And there was another side mystery thrown in there that added another layer to the book as well. Of course Ma, Roxy and Ax are all there as well, and Ma just cracks me up and Roxy even showed a softer side in this one. This is a terrific series that I hope you’ll read!
4.5 stars
- Newer Posts
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- Older Posts
