People.com has reported that doctors for actor Michel Douglas discovered a tumor in his throat. Douglas, 65 and an Oscar-winning actor, will undergo eight weeks of radiation and chemotherapy. According to Douglas’s spokesperson, a full recovery is expected, and Douglas says he “is optimistic.”
Hilary Duff is a married lady! The actress, 22, wed Mike Comrie, 29, on Saturday in Santa Barbara, CA. People.com reports the couple “exchanged vows at the Mediterranean Villa La Quinta around 8 p.m under an arch of flowers and in front of about 100 guests.” Comrie, a Canadian hockey player, proposed this past February while vacationing in Hawaii. The couple has been together since 2007.
Sophie Hegel is a young lawyer living in New York City. After graduating from Yale Law School and securing her first real job, Sophie is proposed to by her decade older boyfriend, Stephen. While he is proposing, Sophie feels something in her throat, described as a fist-ball, lodging her breathing. From that moment, the fist-ball keeps appearing during important times in Sophie’s life, such as representing clients and meeting other lawyers. Sophie tries therapy to understand what is happening to her, as the fist-ball is causing her to be unable to eat or drink. When the therapist talks about her childhood, Sophie dredges up painful memories about her father, who films pornography movies., and the relationship she has with her mother and sister. The therapist diagnoses Sophie with a psychosomatic illness called Globus Sensate, and Sophie must deal with her issues in order to overcome this disease. Swallow, the debut by Tonya Plank, is an interesting story. It took me awhile to grasp the concept that there was an imaginary fist-ball constantly in the main characters throat. I really didn’t understand where the story was going. Once I dove deeper in, I could see how her childhood left damaging psychological distress on her adult life, and started rooting for the character to overcome and succeed. Swallow is marked as dark comedy, but I don’t see anything comedic about the story. I thought it was extremely edgy and dark, and I enjoyed Plank’s writing. I think readers should give this novel a chance, even though the synopsis may see a little far-out, the story is meaningful. Rating: 3/5
Thank you to everyone who suggested ideas for the first Chick Lit Plus Awards. The input is very appreciated, and there were terrific ideas for categories. The final tally is 21 categories, I just could not drop any one category to get the number to an even 20, so 21 it is! Start thinking on which books you want to be nominated, the voting will begin next Monday for nominations only. After that, the top five voted for in each category will be selected and the final voting process will begin. Since this is the first awards for my blog, I am looking not just at books released in 2010, but all your favorites! Categories: *Best Series *Best Laugh-Out-Loud Book *Best Romance *Best BFF Characters *Best Villain *Best Scandal *Best Wedding *Best Tearjerker *Best Cover *Best Novel from a Debut Author *Bests Novel from a Celebrity *Best Book Made into a Movie *Best Book that should be Made into a Movie * Best Job held by a Character *Best Female Character *Best Male Character *Best Supporting Character- someone you want a sequel written about *Best Sequel *Best Mystery/Cozy Mystery *Most Intriguing Concept *Best Cougar Novel
Matchmaker, author, and life coach Marla Martenson chronicles her adventures of matchmaking in the land of Los Angeles. Diary of a Beverly Hills Matchmaker is just what it sounds like, giving readers an inside peek into the lives and relationships of those single and looking. With the backdrop being LA, the stories, people, and situations are to the extreme. Martenson has a humorous voice, and I loved reading about how she needed to figure out how to hook up an old, nerdy, overweight, and balding man with a supermodel look-alike who has to have an Ivy league education but prefers to be a 1950’s housewife. Or secure a match for the man who found his sole mate- but her areolas were too large. Or the woman who will sleep with any man as long as he will drop thousands of dollars for her to shop designer labels. Each tale provides new laughter, and I absolutely love this book! I really liked that Marla not only let readers know about her matchmaking work, but also wrote about her own struggles of writing a book, maintaining a wonderful marriage, and keeping her self-esteem up in the city of LA. It’s also a quick read, only took me a couple of sittings to complete, so if you are looking for something fast, funny, and even enlightening, be sure to check out Diary of a Beverly Hills Matchmaker. Rating: 5/5
Name: Tonya Plank Website: http://www.tonyaplank.com/ Bio: Tonya Plank was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. She has a B.A. in English and Political Science from the University of Arizona, an M.A. in History from Brown University, and a J.D. from Rutgers Law School at Newark. She worked as an appellate public defender in New York City for many years. While practicing law full-time, she wrote her first novel (Swallow), which was published in December 2009. Swallow, an Amazon best-seller in legal fiction, received several awards, including a gold medal for best regional fiction in the 2010 Independent Publisher Awards (IPPYs), the gold medal for women’s fiction in the 2010 Living Now Book Awards, and was a finalist in the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards and the National Indie Excellence Awards. A former competitive ballroom dancer and a longtime balletomane, Tonya writes a dance blog, Swan Lake Samba Girl, which has been lauded by James Wolcott of Vanity Fair and Terry Teachout of the Wall Street Journal, and has been cited in those publications as well as the New York Times Arts Beat blog, the Washington Post, and CNN.com. The blog won a 2007 award from the Public Defender Network for best blog by a public defender that has nothing to do with the job. She also writes for the Huffington Post and several dance publications. Currently: Tonya lives in New York and is working on her second novel, an urban / legal drama about a group of young men who witness a shooting from various perspectives.
Mina is a single mom working at a car insurance call center. Peter is a widowed father of twin girls, who crashes his car into a tree stump trying to avoid a cat. When Peter calls the insurance center for help, Mina answers the phone. From that simple phone call, two complete strangers who live miles and miles apart begin a friendly relationship, each wondering if it is possible they found love. Crossed Wires by Rosy Thornton is a charming love story. I enjoyed reading about not only Mina and Peter’s relationship, but the lives the supporting characters lead. Peter’s twin daughters struggle with growing apart, while Mina’s daughter can’t come out of her shell. There is also a little mystery played out with Mina’s troublesome younger sister that kept my interest. Overall, I thought the over the phone love story was too drawn out, that it took too long for the characters to meet face to face. The sub plots almost held me over, but the last few chapters I found myself frustrated that Mina and Peter had yet to meet. I still enjoyed the read, and I would love to see sequel on how the merging families have turned out. Rating: 4/5
