Chick Lit Plus by Samantha March

Chick Lit Plus

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In My Mailbox: Week of April 21
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In My Mailbox: Week of April 21

Title: Tax Cut
Author: Michele Seigfried
Received: CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: “I saw him,” she said. “He handed an envelope filled with money to the tooth fairy.”
The ramblings of eighty-nine-year-old woman with dementia. The government employees are used to her regular phone calls and dismiss the crazy old lady; but the new municipal clerk, Chelsey Alton, isn’t so sure the woman is off her rocker. Something’s amiss in the Village of Coral Beach, a small, New Jersey shore town community, and Chelsey’s determined to find out what it is.
The former clerk of Coral Beach, Vinny Buttiglieri was murdered and dead bodies keep popping up all over town. Between being a single mom to a temper tantrum throwing two-year-old, bosses who humiliate her in public, the dead bodies, and a man named Mike Nero that is stalking her, she has her hands quite full!
Chelsey recruits her good friend, Bonnie, a voluptuous woman with an off-color sense of humor, to assist her on a few recon missions. The deeper they dig, the more they put themselves in danger, becoming entangled with sinister mobsters, criminal activity, and government corruption.
Not everything is as it seems. Chelsey thinks she’s doing the right thing, trying to uncover the truth and protect herself at the same time, but can she save herself when she becomes entrenched too deep in this Jersey shore mystery?

Title: A Bride’s Guide to Getting Married
Author: Jasmine Clara
Received: Jasmine Clara
Synopsis: Crushed by a sudden break up with her slick advertising executive boyfriend, real estate journalist Emily Novat feels like she is the only single girl in a world of happy couples.
At 32, Emily wonders if she will ever get her own happy ending.
Things start looking up however, when a tipsy Emily unwittingly enters and wins the prestigious Glam Bride magazine Dream Wedding Contest.
The only catch is, Emily must blog about her experiences in the lead up to her ”wedding day.”
With prizes including a Tiffany’s Bridal Shower, a High Tea Party – plus presents – at a posh hotel, and a wild Bachelorette party, Emily won’t let a little matter such as not having a groom stand in the way of enjoying the high life for a just little while.
After all the heartbreak she been through, Emily deserves a little fun. And it’s bonus if it makes her ex-boyfriend jealous.
As the popularity of her blog – A Bride’s Guide to Getting Married – sky-rockets, Emily finds herself becoming the IT girl about town,
A blossoming friendship with Glam Bride’s gorgeous nice-guy photographer Luke, assigned to capture the lead up to her big day makes it all the more fun.
As the big day draws nearer though, the guilt starts eating at Emily, who starts to finds extracting herself from her Dream Wedding is not as easy as she first thought it would be…
Title: Goodnight June
Author: Sarah Jio
Received: Penguin Group
Synopsis: The New York Times bestselling author of Blackberry Winter imagines the inspiration for Goodnight Moon

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown (Goodnight Songs) is an adored childhood classic, but its real origins are lost to history. In Goodnight June, Sarah Jio offers a suspenseful and heartfelt take on how the “great green room” might have come to be.

June Andersen is professionally successful, but her personal life is marred by unhappiness. Unexpectedly, she is called to settle her great-aunt Ruby’s estate and determine the fate of Bluebird Books, the children’s bookstore Ruby founded in the 1940s. Amidst the store’s papers, June stumbles upon letters between her great-aunt and the late Margaret Wise Brown—and steps into the pages of American literature.

Title: The Blonde
Author: Anna Godbersen
Received: FSB Associates
Synopsis: It’s early spring 1959, and the word desire is synonymous with America’s most famous blonde: Marilyn Monroe. She’s at the height of her fame, the object of a whole world’s worth of want and projection. Being desired is her drug, her kryptonite, the very definition of who she is. It’s so much a part of her identity that her own wants and needs have become fleeting at best, as if she’s seen herself through others’ eyes so often that she’s forgotten what she looks like through her own. But the deepest needs always surface, and there is one thing Marilyn wishes for beyond all else—to meet her real father.

That’s the part you already know, the legend—but here’s the part that’s never been told.

Ten years earlier a man named Alexei Lazarey met Marilyn before she was Marilyn, starving and alone at Schwab’s in Los Angeles. Before the day was out, he got her signed to the William Morris Agency and eventually transformed her from a poor, failed actress to America’s most famous sex symbol.

Now that Marilyn has reached her pinnacle, Alexei comes back for his repayment. When she hesitates, he plays his trump card: pulling out a photo of her estranged father with a promise to reunite them. The next day, Marilyn’s on a plane to Chicago with Alexei’s instructions ringing in her ear: John F. Kennedy is the favorite for next year’s Democratic presidential nomination. Find out something about him that no one else knows.

At first, Marilyn is almost bored by the thought of yet again using a man’s attraction to get what she needs. But once she meets the magnetic Jack Kennedy for the first time, she has a feeling that this isn’t going to be a simple game—for her or Alexei. As she gets herself in deeper and deeper Marilyn discovers that there’s something much more sinister at play. What started as the simple desire to meet her father now has grave consequences for her, for the bright young Kennedy, and for the entire nation.

Part biography, part spy thriller, and part love story, THE BLONDE is a whip-smart reimagining of history that reads like a chillingly true account. With a voice that explodes off the page, this novel is a massive ice cream sundae of American celebrity, sex, love, violence, power, and paranoia.

Title: Looking For Me
Author: Beth Hoffman
Received: Tandem Literary
Synopsis: A Southern novel of family and antiques from the bestselling author of the beloved Saving CeeCee Honeycutt

Beth Hoffman’s bestselling debut, Saving CeeCee Honeycutt, won admirers and acclaim with its heartwarming story and cast of unforgettable characters. Now her unique flair for evocative settings and richly drawn Southern personalities shines in her compelling new novel, Looking for Me.

Teddi Overman found her life’s passion for furniture in a broken-down chair left on the side of the road in rural Kentucky. She learns to turn other people’s castoffs into beautifully restored antiques, and eventually finds a way to open her own shop in Charleston. There, Teddi builds a life for herself as unexpected and quirky as the customers who visit her shop. Though Teddi is surrounded by remarkable friends and finds love in the most surprising way, nothing can alleviate the haunting uncertainty she’s felt in the years since her brother Josh’s mysterious disappearance. When signs emerge that Josh might still be alive, Teddi is drawn home to Kentucky. It’s a journey that could help her come to terms with her shattered family—and to find herself at last. But first she must decide what to let go of and what to keep.

Looking for Me brilliantly melds together themes of family, hope, loss, and a mature once-in-a-lifetime kind of love. The result is a tremendously moving story that is destined to make bestselling author Beth Hoffman a novelist to whom readers will return again and again as they have with Adriana Trigiani, Fannie Flagg, and Joshilyn Jackson.

Title: Love on Location
Author: Claire Baxter
Received: Claire Baxter
Synopsis: A deliciously fun rom com about a girl who has big dreams and just can’t stop herself from falling in love.Shayna is this close to getting her dream job as a location manager for a new TV soap, she just needs to find the right house to film it in, and the job is hers.Luckily, she’s found the perfect place. Unluckily, the owner – who is tall, blond and more handsome than is fair – is stubbornly refusing to let her use it unless she goes to dinner with him. No harm in that, right?Lachlan swore he’d never go back into show business – not after his heart was broken – and the last thing he wants is a film crew traipsing through his house, but there’s something about Shayna that’s making it hard to say no . . .He won’t let anyone near his heart, and she’s not looking for love – what could possibly go wrong?

April 21, 2014
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Beauty Review: Simply Beautiful Tangle Teaser Brush and Marvel 10
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Beauty Review: Simply Beautiful Tangle Teaser Brush and Marvel 10

I received these products in exchange for an honest review by Second Glance Beauty.

I’m always up for trying new beauty products, and today I’m talking about a Tangle Teaser Brush and Marvel 10 Leave-In Hair Treatment, both from Simply Beautiful. I recently cut 6 inches off (sob) and my hair is now just below my shoulders, still frizzy as every and basically a pain each morning. With that being said, here are my thoughts on the products!

Tangle Teaser Brush

This might sound strange, but I don’t really brush my hair. When I do, it gets really poufy and too soft for me to wrangle. I comb my hair after showers, so please don’t envision a rat’s nest! I started using the brush after showering, and often while I would blow dry my hair. A lot of times when I blow dry my hair I run into tangles and knots, but using the brush really helped to prevent that, much easier than my regular comb. The brush also feels good on my scalp which was a nice bonus!

Marvel 10

I’ve tried a lot of different products to help tame my hair and make it frizz-free, and I was recently told to give a leave-in conditioner a shot. So what perfect timing this was! I think the spray works well, it helps give my hair shine and it feels soft without making it look greasy. I don’t like the way it smells, almost too chemically, but it seems to do a good job. I use it 2-3 times a week and will continue doing so after I shower.

I give both products 4 stars and I’m eager to try out more from this company!

April 17, 2014
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In My Mailbox: Week of April 14
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In My Mailbox: Week of April 14

Title: Hold Her Down
Author: Kathryn R Biel
Received: CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: Elizabeth Zurlo is lost. She’s a wife, a mother, a teacher, a PTA volunteer—but somewhere along the way, she’s lost herself. Depression and despair can lead to desperate measures and when she is pulled back from the brink of suicide, Elizabeth slowly tries to rebuild her marriage and reclaim her life. Just as she has finally started to put herself back together, a scandalous novel rocks her small town … and costs Elizabeth her social standing, friendships and ultimately, her marriage. However, the man who seemingly destroyed Elizabeth’s life, helps her realize who she is and what she needs to do to become the woman she’s not only capable of being, but the woman she used to be.

Title: The Shadow Year
Author: Hannah Richell
Received: Still grieving the death of her prematurely delivered infant, Lila finds a welcome distraction in renovating a country house she’s recently inherited. Surrounded by blueprints and plaster dust, though, she finds herself drawn into the story of a group of idealistic university grads from thirty years before, who’d thrown off the shackles of bourgeois city life to claim the cottage and rely only on each other on the land. But utopia-building can be fraught with unexpected peril, and when the fate of the group is left eerily unclear, Lila turns her attention to untangling a web of secrets to uncover the shocking truth of what happened that fateful year, in order to come to terms with her own loss and build a new future for herself.

Suspenseful and moving, with a deep secret at its heart, THE SHADOW YEAR is Hannah Richell’s breakout book.

Title: Catching Air
Author: Sarah Pekkanen
Received: Simon and Schuster
Synopsis: From the internationally bestselling author of four books, including The Opposite of Me, a vibrant, compulsively readable novel about two married couples who pursue a dream to open a bed-and-breakfast in small-town Vermont.

In her previous works including The Best of Us, “rising star” (Library Journal) Sarah Pekkanen captivated readers by penning “refreshingly introspective, sharply realistic, and tenderly humorous” novels (Booklist) that had readers “flying through the pages” (Hoda Kotb, Today show). Now, in Catching Air, Pekkanen turns an unflinching eye on the tangled relationships of two pairs of thirty-somethings.

A chance to run a B&B in snowy, remote Vermont—it’s an offer Kira Danner can’t resist after six soul-crushing years of working as a lawyer in Florida. As Kira and her husband, Peter, step into a brand new life, she quells her fears about living with the B&B’s co-owners: Peter’s sexy, irresponsible brother Rand, and Rand’s wife, Alyssa…who is essentially a stranger.

For her part, Alyssa sees taking over the B&B as the latest in a string of adventures. Plus, a quiet place might help her recover from the news that she can’t bear children. But the idyllic town proves to be anything but serene: Within weeks, the sisters-in-law are scrambling to prepare for their first big booking—a winter wedding—and soon a shy, mysterious woman comes to work for them. Dawn Zukoski is hiding something; that much is clear. But what the sisters-in-law don’t realize is that Dawn is also hiding from someone…

Relatable and dynamic, Catching Air delves deeply into the vital relationships that give shape to women’s lives.

Title: Fly Away
Author: Kristin Hannah
Received: St Martins Press
Synopsis: Once, a long time ago, I walked down a night-darkened road called Firefly Lane, all alone, on the worst night of my life, and I found a kindred spirit. That was our beginning. More than thirty years ago. TullyandKate. You and me against the world. Best friends forever. But stories end, don’t they? You lose the people you love and you have to find a way to go on. . . .

Tully Hart has always been larger than life, a woman fueled by big dreams and driven by memories of a painful past. She thinks she can overcome anything until her best friend, Kate Ryan, dies. Tully tries to fulfill her deathbed promise to Kate—to be there for Kate’s children—but Tully knows nothing about family or motherhood or taking care of people.
Sixteen-year-old Marah Ryan is devastated by her mother’s death. Her father, Johnny, strives to hold the family together, but even with his best efforts, Marah becomes unreachable in her grief. Nothing and no one seems to matter to her . . . until she falls in love with a young man who makes her smile again and leads her into his dangerous, shadowy world.
Dorothy Hart—the woman who once called herself Cloud—is at the center of Tully’s tragic past. She repeatedly abandoned her daughter, Tully, as a child, but now she comes back, drawn to her daughter’s side at a time when Tully is most alone. At long last, Dorothy must face her darkest fear: Only by revealing the ugly secrets of her past can she hope to become the mother her daughter needs.
A single, tragic choice and a middle-of-the-night phone call will bring these women together and set them on a poignant, powerful journey of redemption. Each has lost her way, and they will need each one another—and maybe a miracle—to transform their lives.
An emotionally complex, heart-wrenching novel about love, motherhood, loss, and new beginnings, Fly Away reminds us that where there is life, there is hope, and where there is love, there is forgiveness. Told with her trademark powerful storytelling and illuminating prose, Kristin Hannah reveals why she is one of the most beloved writers of our day.
Title: The French For Always
Author: Fiona Valpy
Received: Bookouture
Synopsis: Five Weddings. The perfect venue. One little hitch…
Leaving the grey skies of home behind to transform a crumbling French Château into a boutique wedding venue is a huge leap of faith for Sara. She and fiancé Gavin sink their life savings into the beautiful Château Bellevue – set under blue skies and surrounded by vineyards in the heart of Bordeaux.

After months of hard work, the dream starts to become a reality – until Gavin walks out halfway through their first season. Overnight, Sara is left very much alone with the prospect of losing everything.

With her own heart breaking, Sara has five weddings before the end of the season to turn the business around and rescue her dreams. With the help of the locals and a little courage can she save Château Bellevue before the summer is over?

Title: The Last Time I Saw You
Author: Eleanor Moran
Received: Wunderkind PR
Synopsis: Eleanor Moran’s fourth novel takes readers on a deeply emotional journey of two best friends which begins when Olivia Berrington finds out her estranged friend Sally is killed in a car accident. She begins the cycle of grief and inadvertently dives into her past which leads her to the one place that may be too dangerous to go. Moran takes on powerful female friendships and opens a window into our own vulnerabilities when we confront our past and toxic friendships.

April 14, 2014
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April New Book Releases
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April New Book Releases

Contributor: Allie It’s April, and I really hope that some of you are finally experiencing warmer weather.  They say April is the month that makes…

April 10, 2014
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CLP Blog Tours Novel Spotlight: The New Ever After by Julie Farley
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CLP Blog Tours Novel Spotlight: The New Ever After by …

Julie Farley is now on tour with CLP Blog Tours and The New Ever After About The New Ever After: The sequel to Tripped Up…

April 7, 2014
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Novel Spotlight and Giveaway: A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams
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Novel Spotlight and Giveaway: A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams

Memorial Day, 1938: New York socialite Lily Dane has just returned with her family to the idyllic oceanfront community of Seaview, Rhode Island, expecting another…

April 1, 2014
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In My Mailbox: Week of March 31
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In My Mailbox: Week of March 31

Title: Unwell
Author: Marie Chow
Received: CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: She’s married to a wonderful man, pregnant with a healthy child, and knows there’s so much she should be thankful for, and yet–
She’s not ready for motherhood.
She’s not ready to be a wife.
She’s not ready for the realities that have trapped her.
To pass the time, fill the void, and in hopes that someone may eventually understand, she begins a letter to her unborn daughter. In it she tells, unflinchingly, her life story that bring her to this moment. She explains what she hasn’t told anyone else: not only who she is, but who she isn’t.

Title: On Grace
Author: Susie Orman Schnall
Received: Spark Points Studio
Synopsis: Meet Grace, who is actually excited about turning 40 in a few months, that is, until her job, marriage, and personal life take a dizzying downhill spiral. Can she recover from the most devastating time in her life, right before it’s supposed to be one of the best? Fans of Emily Giffin will love Susie Orman Schnall’s debut, which is all about rediscovering yourself–with grace–well after you think it’s even possible anymore. On Grace deals with themes such as divorce, infidelity, re-entering the workforce after children, breast cancer, and of course, turning 40. This novel is sure to hit a chord with many women readers.

Title: In the Mirror
Author: Kaira Rouda
Received: Kaira Rouda
Synopsis: What choices would you make if you knew you may die soon?
From the multi award-winning, best-selling author of four books, including Here, Home, Hope, a gripping and heart wrenching novel about a young mother who has it all. The only problem is she may be dying.
In her previous works including All the Difference, Rouda’s characters “sparkle with humor and heart,” and the stories are “told with honest insight and humor” (Booklist). “Inspirational and engaging” (ForeWord), these are the novels you’ll turn to for strong female characters and an “engaging read” (Kirkus).
In the Mirror is the story of Jennifer Benson, a woman who seems to have it all. Diagnosed with cancer, she enters an experimental treatment facility to tackle her disease the same way she tackled her life – head on. But while she’s busy fighting for a cure, running her business, planning a party, staying connected with her kids, and trying to keep her sanity, she ignores her own intuition and warnings from others and reignites an old relationship best left behind.
If you knew you might die, what choices would you make? How would it affect your marriage? How would you live each day? And how would you say no to the one who got away?
Title: Here For the Cake
Author: Emily Poule
Received: Emily Poule
Synopsis: “Something should happen: a thunderbolt should erupt, a car should crash, a bell should ring. There should be a soundtrack—some horrible, frightening sound to accompany the news of your ex-boyfriend marrying one of your best friends from high school. Especially when you’re still in love with him.”

No, of course she wasn’t going. Are you insane? For 29-year-old academic Mina Joseph, going to Ella Hutchinson’s destination wedding would be the ultimate act of lunacy. It would be much safer to stay in her shitty studio in Boston so she could stalk the Facebook pages of the bride, groom, and every other guest in attendance before falling asleep in a box of tears and Wheat Thins.

But Luke’s best man, the insufferably charming Benjamin Fogarty, has different plans for Mina. Not only is Ben desperate to break up the mismatched couple before they say their “I do’s,” he is convinced that Luke is still in love with Mina (though he can’t figure out why). So, Ben offers Mina $2400 and a plane ticket to come out of hiding and seduce the groom.

Armed with a new wardrobe, devious friends, and copious amounts of tequila, Mina has five days to rekindle her love with Luke, expose Ella for the certifiable psychopath that she is, and at all costs, avoid having sex with the best man, regardless of how hot it could be.
Title: The Art of Floating
Author: Kristin Bair O’Keeffe
Received: Penguin
Synopsis: At a time when nothing seems real,
it takes something truly unusual to put your life into focus.

When her beloved husband Jackson disappeared without a trace, popular novelist Sia Dane stopped writing, closed down her house, stuffed her heart into a cage, and started floating. It wasn’t the normal response to heartache, but Sia rarely did things the normal way.

Exactly one year, one month, and six days after Jackson’s disappearance, Sia discovers a mysterious man on the beach. He’s mute, unresponsive, and looks as if he has just walked out of the sea. It’s the sort of situation Jackson would have solved with a simple call to the police. But Jackson is gone.

As unreal as he seems, Sia is determined to help this man. Perhaps she can return him to his place in the world—to whoever lost him and loves him. Perhaps she can answer their questions the way no one could answer hers.

But as her friends and family help her winnow her way to the truth, Sia comes to realize that the unfathomable leap between sorrow and healing begins with a single step.

Title: No One Could Have Guessed the Weather
Author: Anne-Marie Casey
Received: Penguin
Synopsis: Sometimes what you want in your twenties isn’t what you want or need in your forties. . . .

When Lucy Lovett’s husband loses his job, she is forced to give up her posh life in London and move their family to a tiny apartment in Manhattan, where her husband has managed to secure a lowly position. Lucy finds herself living in the center of cool and hip. Across from their apartment is a trendy bar called PDT—whenever Lucy passes by, she thinks, Please Don’t Tell anyone I’m a middle-aged woman.

Homesick and resentful at first, Lucy soon embarks on the love affair of her life—no, not with her husband (though they’re both immensely relieved to discover they do love each other for richer or poorer), but with New York City and the three women who befriend her.

There’s Julia, who is basically branded with a Scarlet A when she leaves her husband and kids for a mini nervous breakdown and a room of her own; Christy, a much older man’s trophy wife, who is a bit adrift as only those who live high up in penthouses can be; and disheveled and harried Robyn, constantly compensating for her husband, who can’t seem to make the transition from wunderkind to adult.

Spot-on observant, laugh-out-loud funny, yet laced with kindness through and through, No One Could Have Guessed the Weather is a story of what happens when you grow up and realize the middle part of your story might just be your beginning.

March 31, 2014
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CLP Blog Tours Novel Spotlight: Becoming Mrs. Walsh by Jessica Gordon
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CLP Blog Tours Novel Spotlight: Becoming Mrs. Walsh by Jessica …

Jessica Gordon is now on tour with CLP Blog Tours and Becoming Mrs. Walsh Summary: Shoshana Thompson is 26 years old, miles from home, and engaged to…

March 27, 2014
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In My Mailbox: Week of March 24
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In My Mailbox: Week of March 24

Title: Precious Words
Author: Leigh Fleming
Received: CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: Emberly Fallon is a smart, beautiful American attorney who goes on a dream vacation with her two best friends to the UK, where she meets the irresistible Niccolo Bartoli, an Italian tennis pro who is just as commanding off the court as he is on.
Emberly resists his advances, not wanting anything to do with paparazzi and Nico’s rabid fans.
Currently ranked number two in the world, Nico finds himself struggling with his game and his personal life. Although always surrounded by his entourage, he is lonely in his world of celebrity and constant travel. Emberly makes him feel grounded, and despite her best intentions, she does fall in love with the dashing, foreign sportsman.
Their romantic adventures take them to Miami, New York, and Rome. This whirlwind love story was not in Emberly’s future plans, but she allows herself to be happy with Nico—until she becomes the victim of threats. Someone is trying to bring Nico’s success and newfound happiness to a tragic end … and that person is much closer than they suspect.

Title: Diamonds in the Sky
Author: MA Harper
Received: CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: DIAMONDS, LOVE, AND UFOS…

When struggling artist/shoe clerk Caddy Keyhoe stumbles across what may be a lost and untraceable diamond, her first reaction is down-to-earth: Maybe I can sell it. But how odd to be finding it in the gutter now, after last night’s dream of a UFO scattering bright gemstones. Research via Google leads her to the website of melancholy Alec Rix, semi-failed writer and newly-minted UFO authority—courtesy of his published interview with octogenarian Hatchell T. Beckham Sr., retired from farming and strangely eager to discredit the new crop circle on the Beckham property. The crop circle perpetrated by a neighborhood hoaxer. Or by those blazing diamond-shaped UFOs that just about everybody in Hopkins, South Carolina—except old Hatch—claims to have seen…?

As Caddy’s art career takes a magical turn for the stratosphere, Alec’s friendship with Hatch deepens through the old farmer’s tale of his long-lost family. Could there be a book in this? the blocked author has to wonder. But when pursuit of the story sends him blundering into radiant Caddy on the biggest night of her life, priorities immediately change. Because what can it really mean, to “follow a star”? And what does Hawaii have to do with it?

A feet-on-the-ground story with its head in the clouds, Diamonds In The Sky reports from the Unknown with quiet wit, endearing characters, and the speculation that love just might be forever—even if not all diamonds are.
Title: Keep Quiet
Author: Lisa Scottoline
Received: SHPNY
Synopsis: New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award winning author Lisa Scottoline is loved by millions of readers for her suspenseful novels about family and justice. Scottoline delivers once again withKeep Quiet, an emotionally gripping and complex story about one man’s split-second decision to protect his son – and the devastating consequences that follow.Jake Buckman’s relationship with his sixteen-year-old son Ryan is not an easy one, so at the urging of his loving wife, Pam, Jake goes alone to pick up Ryan at their suburban movie theater.　 On the way home, Ryan asks to drive on a deserted road, and Jake sees it as a chance to make a connection. However, what starts as a father-son bonding opportunity instantly turns into a nightmare. Tragedy strikes, and with Ryan’s entire future hanging in the balance, Jake is forced to make a split-second decision that plunges them both into a world of guilt and lies. Without ever meaning to, Jake and Ryan find themselves living under the crushing weight of their secret, which treatens to tear their family to shreds and ruin them all. Powerful and dramatic, Keep Quiet will have readers and book clubs debating what it means to be a parent and how far you can, and should, go to protect those you love.
Title: Confessions of a Paris Party Girl
Author: Vicki Lesage
Received: Vicki Lesage
Synopsis: Drinking too much bubbly. Meeting sappy Frenchmen who have girlfriends or are creeps or both. Encountering problème after problème with French bureaucracy. When newly-single party girl Vicki moved to Paris, she was hoping to taste wine, stuff her face with croissants, and maybe fall in love.

In her first book, this long-time blogger and semi-professional drinker recounts the ups and downs of her life in Paris. Full of sass, shamefully honest admissions, and situations that seem too absurd to be true, Vicki makes you feel as if you’re stumbling along the cobblestones with her.

Will she find love? Will she learn to consume reasonable amounts of alcohol? Will the French administration ever cut her a break?
Title: Second Hand Jane
Author: Michelle Vernal
Received: Michelle Vernal
Synopsis: When footloose and fancy-free Jessica, a thirty-something writer, decides to follow her journalistic instincts and trace the story of a young girl for her weekly column in a Dublin newspaper, she unwittingly embarks on a journey into Northern Ireland’s tragic past.
With her love of all things vintage, Jessica Jane Baré is known as Second-hand Jane to her friends. Hailing from New Zealand, these days she’s finding the grass is greener in Dublin and not just because of all the rain. In fact, life would be sweet if it weren’t for the reason she left home in the first place–her meddling mother. Marian views Jess’s life in Dublin as nothing more than a stop-gap until she meets Mr Right and he’s taking his time. Things look set to change, however, when Jess meets the delectable Nick, who ticks all of Marian’s boxes.
In the meantime, Jess’s latest second-hand collectible–a children’s book—gives her an idea for her column. Deciding to track down the girl whose name is scribbled inside the cover of that book, she uncovers more than she ever expected. “Amy was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” the girl’s taciturn brother, Owen, informs her. Intrigued, Jess travels to the family pig farm in County Down and listens to Amy’s poignant tale unfold through Owen. With a little help from a rather cute runt of the litter she names Wilbur, Jess is about to help put the past to rest and learn that appearances can be deceptive.
Then Marian announces she is coming to Dublin to sort her daughter’s increasingly tangled love life out and Jess’s chance of a happy ending like those in the story books she collects looks about as likely as Wilbur flying.
Title: Bridal Bootcamp
Author: Bella Bailey
Received: Bella Bailey
Synopsis: Bridal Bootcamp is a contemporary romantic comedy set in Dublin, Ireland. When Yvonne’s boyfriend Simon accepts her marriage proposal, she resolves to give her family and friends the best wedding imaginable! And if the little matter of money gets in the way…well, she’ll worry about that later.

Besides, it’s not as if she has nothing else to fret about – Simon’s twin sister Tracey is hell-bent on finding a way to stop the wedding. When Simon’s ex, Sandra, returns from the past and reveals that Simon is the father of her baby, it looks like Tracey might get her wish – especially as Sandra is demanding a kidney from Simon for their gravely ill child.

And that’s the easy part….what Yvonne doesn’t know is that her best friend, Rachel, is harbouring a deadly secret that has the potential to obliterate Yvonne’s relationship with Simon forever…..a secret that comes to light in a dramatic crescendo on their big day in front of everyone they know.

The power of this young couple’s love is put to the test again and again, and they embark on a journey of discovery about their relationship. The issues they face force them to evaluate what’s really important to them – their wedding, or their impending marriage.

March 24, 2014
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