Taylor Swift can add yet another honor to her ever-growing list. Already the youngest CMA winner in history and selling more than 10 million albums, the singer is now CoverGirl’s latest spokesperson. Joining others such as Queen Latifah, Rihanna, and Drew Barrymore, Swift said it was a “dream come true,” reports People.com. Her ads for a new line of luxury cosmetics will debut in January.
In My Mailbox: Week of May 2nd
Title: I Scream, You Scream
Author: Wendy Lyn Watson
Received: From Wendy Lyn Watson for Review & Giveaway
Synopsis: Recently divorced Tallulah Jones is mortified when she’s stuck scooping sundaes for her two-timing ex-husband-and his bodacious new girlfriend, Brittanie-at his company luau.
But when Brittanie drops dead, Tally is suddenly the prime suspect in her murder investigation. To catch the killer, Tally will have to dip deep into her small Texan town’s darkest secrets and churn up stories some would prefer to keep in the past. But can she uncover the real culprit before a murder charge puts her dreams on ice for good?
Title: The Summer We Read Gatsby
Author: Danielle Ganek
Received: From Danielle Ganek
Synopsis: Half sisters Cassie and Peck could not be more different. Cassie is a newly divorced journalist with her feet firmly planted on the ground; Peck is a vintage-obsessed actress with her head in the clouds. In fact, the only thing they seem to have in common is their inheritance of Fool’s House, a rundown cottage left to them by their beloved Aunt Lydia. But Cassie and Peck can’t afford the house, and they can’t agree on anything, much less what to do with the place. Plus, they’ve inherited an artist in residence and self-proclaimed genius named Biggsy, who seems to bring suspiciously bad luck wherever he goes. As these two likeable sisters try to understand their aunt’s puzzling instructions to “seek a thing of utmost value” from within the house, they’re both distracted by romantic entanglements with men from their pasts. The Summer We Read Gatsby, set in the end-of-an-era summer of 2008, is filled with fabulous parties, eccentric characters, and insider society details that showcase Ganek’s pitch-perfect sense of style and wit.
Time for another book giveaway! Lovely author Sarah Pekkanen has agreed to host a giveaway through Chick Lit Plus, and one lucky winner will receive a copy of her debut novel The Opposite of Me. To get entered, leave a message on this post, comment on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter (be sure to send me a message if you follow me on Twitter so I can enter you)! The winner will be announced on Friday, April 30th. Good luck!
Q: When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?
I’ve been making up stories since I was a little kid, but I think the moment I realized I really wanted to do this was when I was thirteen and decided to write a novel. It was a dreadful, mawkish love story, but I found the experience extremely satisfying. From that point forward, writing became very important to me.
Q: You write both fiction and non-fiction. Why did you decide to write both?
Well, I actually didn’t decide to write fiction professionally for a long time. I wrote a novel right out of college, tried to get it published, and collected enough rejections to heat the house for a week. After that, I walked away from fiction for a long time – walked away from book-length writing completely for a period. I got on with my day job and then a nonfiction writing opportunity presented itself. This turned into a rather steady career. A couple of years ago, though, I realized that I really missed writing fiction. I felt that there were all kinds of things I wanted to say, especially about relationships between people, that I couldn’t ever address in my nonfiction. Fortunately, my fiction writing skills had been quietly improving in the background all these years. My first published novel, When You Went Away is just a tiny bit better than that novel I wrote in college (which will never come out of the trunk).
Q: What do you want readers to take about from your books?
What I’m hoping they get is some level of reflection. Each of my novels have come about because I wanted to do two things: I wanted to explore how people connect with one another and I wanted to ruminate on a particular thing. In When You Went Away, it was parenthood. In Crossing the Bridge it was family, specifically brothers. These are obviously tremendously common experiences, and I’m hoping the novels give people a reason to think about their own lives.
Q: I am about to start reading your third novel, The Journey Home. Where did the inspiration for these characters come from?
The inspiration for The Journey Home was particularly strong: my mother and father’s romance. They had been married for more than fifty years when my father died (I was born after they’d been married quite a while and I’m last in the birth order – more on that in another novel) and they were the most important people in each other’s lives for every one of those years. One of the important viewpoint characters in the novel is an elderly woman whose husband died five years earlier and who has decided to live in her head so she can re-live the time they had together. Some of this is the direct result of conversations I had with my mother after my father passed.
Q: What is your favorite part of the writing process?
I love creating and learning about the characters. I spend a great deal of time thinking about them and getting to know them. My goal is to be so familiar with them that I don’t have to think about how they would react when I’m in the middle of a scene, that it all just comes naturally to me. I also love writing dialogue. I have a tremendous amount of fun playing out the conversations in my head. One day, I’d like to write entire novella in dialogue.
Q: I read that you were previously a teacher. How were you able to break into the writing industry?
Lucky break, really. Someone needed a co-author for a book and I happened to have the right skillset for the job. I connected with that person’s agent and things have been very steady since.
Q: I also read you worked in retail (as have I). Do you have any customer horror or hilarious tales?
(You know, I really don’t have a great one. It was a while ago, and I think I blocked a lot of it out. Probably best if we just skipped this question.)
Q: If you were stranded on an island and had to have on celebrity with you, who would choose and why?
That’s a huge challenge for me. If you were going to spend a huge amount of time with another person, you’d want that person to be genuinely interesting rather than simply a personality. I admire many celebrities for their craft, but I’m not sure they’d be all that much fun to hang out with once we got past the starstruck stage. I’d probably say Bruce Springsteen because I not only love his work, but I admire his passion and the causes he supports. I would imagine we’d have a number of fascinating conversations, though I doubt I’d be able to hold up my end of them.
Q: What is your best advice for aspiring writers?
Write what you love and write it as passionately and honestly as you possibly can. Also, never do it because you think you’re going to be a star. If that happens, great, but it’s unlikely to happen if this is your only reason for doing it.
Q: Where would be your dream vacation?
It would be a week each in all of the dining capitals of the world. And since we’re taking “dream,” I’d get to eat like a true gourmand and not gain a single pound.
I have written before on teeth whitening, and covered ideas such as whitening strips and dentist visits to get your pearly whites even more, well pearlier. But the May edition of Prevention magazine says you don’t need expensive bleaches or UV lasers to get the desirable white teeth. You can follow two simple tricks to make your teeth look even whiter than they might be. The first tip: Avoid gold necklaces and earrings. The tone can pick up and enhance the yellow on your teeth. And the second tip: Wear lipstick with a blue undertone, such as a berry color. These colors will counteract any of the yellow. Even better? Clinique has 12 shades of lipsticks that are proven to whiten by at least one shade. Check out your best color of Clinique’s Brighter Smile Lip Colour Collections!
I’m a little late posting this, but some of you still have time! Bestselling author Emily Giffin is teaming up with Irene Zutell for a fabulous giveaway! Buy Irene Zutell’s Pieces of Happily Ever After and send your receipt to Emily Giffin, along with which of Giffin’s first four books you want, and get a signed copy of that book! So that’s 2 books for the price of one! It’s for today, April 28th, only so head over to Amazon.com and get your copy of Pieces of Happily Ever After.
One of my favorite exercise routines is the most basic- walking! Usually I make it on the treadmill three times a week, walking at a brisk pace at a steep incline. Even though I am “just” walking, the pace and the incline are giving me a great cardio workout. Shape.com has a great walking workout plan, that includes two different workouts, a 30 min quick blast and a 60 min fat torcher that you can alternate between. Check out both workouts here and get walking!
Here’s a Quick Way to Cook Healthy Mediterranean Diet Recipes
Chops Peppers
Photo: http://www.mediterraneanrecipes.org/Chops_Peppers.jpg
Ingredients
Pepper — 4 pieces
Ham — 150 grams
Breadcrumbs
Flour — 4 tablespoons
Eggs — 2 pieces
This recipe can satisfy 4 people and can be prepared in 50 minutes. Chops and Peppers is very inexpensive, easy to prepare, and allows you to use leftover foods in your refrigerator. You will have a savory meal with little fat and calories in less than an hour.
Preparation
Clean the peppers and make large slices along the sides then roast them. Let cool the stuff the peppers with sliced cheese and ham. Make sure the stuffed peppers are properly closed. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl. Soak the peppers in the beaten eggs and roll them in breadcrumbs. Fry and serve.
Nutritional Value:
Food Gr Kcal Fat Carb Pro Fib Water
Green peppers 500 100 0.85 23.2 4.3 8.5 469.45
Ham 150 267 13.53 0 33.93 0 96.81
Bread crumbs 100 395 5.3 71.98 13.35 4.5 6.51
Wheat flour or 40 144.4 0.66 29.01 4.79 0.96 5.34
Hen eggs – whole 40 57.2 3.98 0.31 5.03 0 30.34
Total 830 963.6 24.32 124.5 61.4 13.96 608.45
A head (4) 207.5 240.9 6.08 31.13 15.35 3.49 152.11
Per 100 grams 100 116.1 2.93 15 7.4 1.68 73.31
Penne with Ricotta
Photo: http://www.mediterraneanrecipes.org/penne_ricotta.jpg
Ingredients
Penne — 100 grams
Cheese — 40 grams
Grated parmesan — 20 grams
Salt
Pepper
This recipe can be prepared within 25 minutes and good for one serving only. Penne with Ricotta is a tasty energy meal and excellent for your personal enjoyment. Ricotta is a dairy product. It is very rich in protein and derived from different types of milk.
Preparation
Mix water with salt then boil in a saucepan. Follow the directions on the package for cooking the Penne. Drain the water but leave at least 2 to 3 tablespoons of water. Add cottage cheese in the pan then season the mixture with salt and pepper. Before serving, make sure to sprinkle parmesan cheese on top.
Nutritional Value:
Food Gr Kcal Fat Carb Pro Fib Water
Semolina pasta 100 371 1.51 74.67 13.04 3.2 9.9
Ricotta 40 55.2 3.16 2.06 4.56 0 29.76
Grated Parmesan cheese 20 86.2 5.72 0.81 7.69 0 4.17
Salt 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Pepper 2 5.1 0.07 1.3 0.22 0.53 0.21
Total 164 517.5 10.46 78.84 25.51 3.73 44.04
A head (1) 164 517.5 10.46 78.84 25.51 3.73 44.04
Per 100 grams 100 315.55 6.38 48.07 15.55 2.27 26.85
About the Cooker – Felicia R. Mcclinton writes for the blog mediterranean vegetarian recipes , her personal hobby blog she uses to help people learn how to make Mediterranean recipes to eat healthy to prevent diseases.
In My Mailbox: Week of April 25th
Title: The Journey Home
Author: Michael Baron
Received: From Michael Baron
Synopsis: Joseph, a man in his late thirties, awakens disoriented and uneasy in a place he doesn’t recognize. Several people are near him when he opens his eyes, all strangers. All of them seem perfectly friendly, but none of them can explain to him how he got there. They offer him a delicious meal and pleasant conversation in a beautifully decorated room. This would be a very nice experience if not for one thing: Joseph doesn’t know where he is and he has no way to contact his wife, who he is sure is worried sick over him. Thanking the people for their hospitality, he leaves to make his way back home. The only problem is that whatever happened to him has stripped him of most of his memories. He knows he needs to get back to his wife, but he doesn’t know how to find her. He sets out on a journey to find his home with no sense of where he’s going and only the precious, indelible vision of the woman he loves to guide him.
Antoinette is an elderly woman in an assisted living facility. She’s spent the last six years there since her husband died, and most of those years have been happy. She enjoys the company of others in her situation and her son comes to visit often. But in recent months, she’s had a tougher and tougher time leaving her room. Her friends seem different to her and the world seems increasingly confusing. She spends an escalating amount of time on a journey inside her head. There, her body and mind haven’t betrayed her. There, she’s a young newlywed with a husband who dotes on her and an entire life of dreams to live. There, she is truly home.
Warren, Antoinette’s son, is a man in his early forties going through the toughest year of his life. His marriage ended, he lost his job, and in the past few months, his mother has gone from hale to increasingly hazy. Having trouble finding work, he spends more and more time by his mother’s bedside. But her lack of lucidity both frustrates and frightens him. With far too much time on his hands, he decides to try to recreate his memories of home by attempting to cook his mother’s greatest dishes using the rudimentary appliances available in her room. He finds the challenge surprisingly rewarding, especially because the only time he feels his mother is truly with him anymore is when she is eating the meals he prepares for her.
Joseph, Antoinette, and Warren are three people on different searches for home. How they find it, and how they connect with one another at this critical stage in each of their lives, is the foundation for a profound and deeply moving story.
Title: The Look of Love
Author: Jill Egizii
Received: From Jill Egizii
Synopsis: Anna, the wife of a prominent local attorney, has decided enough is enough. After nearly twenty years of marriage, she realizes she must get free from her controlling spouse. In the process, she loses the only thing that made escaping worthwhile–her children. Despite their joint custody agreement, her ex uses his wiles, wealth, and legal experience to exile Anna from the family. Her once “normal” relationships with her son and daughter mysteriously sour. The system, the law, and her faith in herself all seem to fail her at the same time. While facing the fight of her life, Anna realizes the true meaning of friendship and love.
