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New Releases: November 2013
Chick Lit Plus

New Releases: November 2013

November New Releases
To me November marks the end of the harvest season and the approach of winter. In other words, it’s starting to get very chilly! So, I’m grateful that there are some wonderful (and in some cases long) books coming out this month that I can curl up with and savor after a big Thanksgiving dinner.
The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan – November 5, 2013. This novel is the latest sweeping epic by the NYT bestselling author, Amy Tam. It’s the story of a mother and daughter. In 1897 Lucia is a young American who falls for a Chinese painter and abandons her home for the intriguing and mysterious world of old Shanghai. At sixteen she makes some disastrous choices, which lead her to the life of a Madam. Fifteen years later, during the fall of the Ching dynasty, she loses her daughter Violet in a cruel act of clever manipulation. Violet is forced to become a “virgin courtesan.” Both woman experience betrayal and heartbreak, but refuse to submit to society’s expectations. Tan is expert at writing about the intricacies of the mother daughter relationship and this story, which spans forty years and two continents, will take the reader on an amazing journey.
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Marie Landry – November 5, 2013. Christmas isn’t always a wonderful time of year, especially for those who’ve lost a loved one. In the first few years after her grandmother’s death, Ginny Bailey bravely went through the holiday motions. When she finds out she’ll be alone this Christmas, she gives up the cheerful pretense. To add to her bah humbug spirit, everything in her life starts to go wrong – until Dean comes back into her life. Maybe Christmas can be wonderful again?
Wish Upon a Star by Trisha Ashley – November 7, 2013. The theme of this holiday story is the miracle that Christmas can bring. Cally is a young single mom, who doesn’t have time for love. When her young daughter Stella gets sick, she must move in with her mother to save money for surgery. All Cally wants for Christmas is a healthy child. Then the charming Jago shows up offering her hope of a different kind. Can Cally also look forward to the gift of love under her Christmas tree this year?
The Theory of Opposites by Allison Winn Scotch – November 12, 2013. Allison Winn Scotch is one of my favorite authors, so I’m very excited about her new book, a story about fate and destiny. Willa Chandler-Golden has what most would consider a good life – a great job, loving husband and a father who changed the world. Her dad wrote a best-selling self-help book that sold the notion that everything happens for a reason. Willa isn’t so sure about her dad’s theory, especially with her ever present negative pregnancy tests. When things begin to really fall apart for Willa, she finds herself on a totally different path. Can Willa tempt fate and be brave enough to change her life?
The Runaway Wife by Rowan Coleman – November 12, 2013. This is the story of a Rose, a woman who escapes her abusive husband by running away to the Lake District in England, where she seeks shelter at a small bed & breakfast. What led her there was the kindness of a stranger, whom she met long ago. Will this connection, which has sustained her, still be there? The beautiful surroundings, a nosy innkeeper and her charming son give Rose the hope to reach out to her estranged father. Can she continue to chase a dream or will she decide to face the reality in her heart?
Merry & Bright – Chick Lit Holiday Anthology – November 15, 2013. Sip your eggnog, linger under the mistletoe, and make a Christmas wish. Merry & Bright brings you six tales of Christmas cheer, featuring stories of budding romances, Southern charm, lost loves, heaps of humor, and lots of pie by authors Isabella Louise Anderson, Cindy Arora, Laura Chapman, Lauren Clark, Libby Mercer, and Nancy Scrofano. From sunny Los Angeles to the Rocky Mountains to the Deep South, Merry & Bright will take you on a heartwarming adventure you’ll love to visit again and again. Wrap yourself in holiday mirth and prepare to be swept off your feet.
The Supreme Macaroni Company by Adriana Trigiani – November 26, 2013. We wrap up the month with another family saga that spans continents. This is the third novel in Trigiani’s Valentine trilogy. Designer shoemaker Valentine is about to marry her tanner, Giancarlo, a handsome Italian who is twenty years her senior. He’s also the grandson of her grandmother’s new husband, which is complicated and probably a bit dysfunctional. Valentine tries to balance her work and private life, all the while opening a shoe factory in Brooklyn, and preparing to give birth to her first child. Giancarlo on the other hand, has very different ideas about their future – he envisions a quiet life in Tuscany. Choices, choices!

November 13, 2013
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I’m Married!
Chick Lit Plus

I’m Married!

So…I got married. Yes, I know this post is only about 2 months late, but do you know how crazy one can become after the…

November 11, 2013
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Cover Reveal: Hard Hats and Doormats by Laura Chapman
Chick Lit Authors

Cover Reveal: Hard Hats and Doormats by Laura Chapman

CLP is excited to share the cover today for Hard Hats and Doormats by debut author Laura Chapman! Look for the book to be released by Marching…

November 11, 2013
4 Comments
In My Mailbox: Week of November 10
Chick Lit Plus

In My Mailbox: Week of November 10

Title: Vegas to Varanasi
Author: Shelly Hickman
Received: CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: Anna has never been the beautiful one; she’s always been the nice one. So when the gorgeous man sitting across the table at a wedding reception remembers her from high school—and quite fondly at that—she’s taken off guard. Formerly overweight and unpopular, Kiran has never forgotten Anna, the one person who was kind to him when no one else could be bothered, and Anna’s a bit flustered as she slowly comes to grips with his intense attraction for her. In what feels like a romantic dream come true, all-grown-up, hunky Kiran invites Anna on a trip to Varanasi. But her troubled, whack-a-do ex-boyfriend starts interfering, creating drama at every turn, which begs the question, “Can nice girls really finish first?”

Title: Last Christmas
Author: Talli Roland
Review: Talli Roland
Synopsis: For Lucy, the best Christmas present is forgetting the past.

Eager to banish the ghost of Christmas past – when her boyfriend dumped her on the streets of Paris – Lucy is determined to make this the best Christmas ever. She rallies friends and family for an epic celebration that just happens to fall on the same day as her ex’s festive wedding. Furious at how she’s been treated, Lucy can’t help relishing the party v wedding smackdown.

But when the wedding is threatened and only Lucy can help, can she find the spirit inside to save the day, or will this Christmas be even more disastrous than the last?

Title: Doubting Abbey
Author: Samantha Tonge
Received: Samantha Tonge
Synopsis: Swapping downstairs for upstairs… How hard can it be!? Look up the phrase ordinary girl and you’ll see a picture of me, Gemma Goodwin – I only look half-decent after applying the entire contents of my make-up bag, and my dating track-record includes a man who treated me to dinner…at a kebab shop. No joke! The only extraordinary thing about me is that I look EXACTLY like my BFF, Abbey Croxley. Oh, and that for reasons I can’t explain, I’ve agreed to swap identities and pretend be her to star in the TV show about her aristocratic family’s country estate, Million Dollar Mansion. So now it’s not just my tan I’m faking – it’s Kate Middleton style demure hemlines and lady-like manners too. And amongst the hundreds of fusty etiquette rules I’m trying to cram into my head, there are two I really must remember; 1) No-one can ever find out that I’m just Gemma, who’d be more at home in the servants quarters. And 2) There can be absolutely no flirting with Abbey’s dishy but buttoned-up cousin, Lord Edward. Aaargh, this is going to be harder than I thought…

Title: It Would Be Wrong to Steal My Sister’s Boyfriend (Wouldn’t It?)
Author: Sophie Ranald
Received: Sophie Ranald
Synopsis: You live together, laugh together, borrow her shoes and eyeliner – is there anything you can’t share with your sister?

Ellie’s younger sister Rose has it all. She’s beautiful, stylish and dates gorgeous, glamorous millionaires, while Ellie is quite happy watching TV on the sofa with her old mate Ben. But when Rose brings her new boyfriend home, it’s lust at first sight for Ellie. And although she knows it’s wrong, everything changes: she’ll do whatever it takes to get Oliver, even if it means abandoning her principles and turning a deaf ear to her friends. After all, would it be so wrong to take up running, put some highlights in her hair and make herself look a tiny, little bit more like Rose? But as Ellie follows in her sister’s stiletto-heeled footsteps, she realises that finding love could mean losing the most important thing in the world.

It Would Be Wrong to Steal My Sister’s Boyfriend… is a warm, witty whirlwind romance. If you’re a fan of Tracy Bloom, Pippa Wright and Mhairi McFarlane, you’ll love Sophie Ranald.

Title: The End
Author: Denise Moncrief
Received: Denise Moncried
Synopsis: Sometimes the end is only the beginning.

Almost a year after her husband dies, Ellie Marston opens the file for Tab’s last manuscript, a thriller so compelling it reads like a true story. His manuscript needs an ending, so Ellie writes the obvious conclusion. The same morning she types The End, her career as an assistant district attorney falls apart. Accused of throwing the high profile Patterson case, she resigns in disgrace. The only friend she has left in the criminal justice system is Det. Paul Santiago, a man she has worked closely with on numerous cases. While she was married to Tab, she squashed her growing feelings for Paul, determined to make her deteriorating marriage work, but circumstances after Tab’s death bring Ellie and Paul together.

Ellie’s paranoia increases as she becomes convinced Patterson is harassing her, certain that someone is searching her belongings for any hidden evidence she might have that would reopen his case. It becomes clear there was a conspiracy to release Patterson. She seeks help from her former co-worker, Presley Sinclair, but soon discovers Presley is deeply involved in the subsequent cover up. Worse yet, Tab’s affair with Presley drew him into the twisted conspiracy as well.

Together Paul and Ellie attempt to uncover the conspiracy in the District Attorney’s office, the set up that forced her to resign. The key to the mystery is hidden in the pages of Tab’s manuscript. Once Paul and Ellie come to the correct conclusion—Tab’s manuscript is a true story and Ellie’s added ending is the only logical outcome—Ellie attempts to reveal Patterson’s hidden partner in the District Attorney’s office, but the co-conspirator she uncovers is not whom she suspects. Danger swirls around her as she steps further and further into the conspirator’s trap.

Title: Wish Upon a Star
Author: Trisha Ashley
Received: LightBrigade PR
Synopsis: Cookery columnist and author Cally’s world is turned upside down when her baby daughter is born with serious heart problems. Her ex disappeared when she was pregnant, and Cally has spent much of the early years of daughter Stella’s life at the hospital. When Stella’s only hope is hugely expensive life-saving surgery in the States, Cally moves in with her mother in the rural village of Sticklepond, to save money for the operation.

The village rallies round and begins fund raising with a vengeance, including the laid back and rather handsome baker Jago, who is still trying to escape the clutches of his controlling ex-fiance. With everything that is going on, the last thing Cally wants to do is fall in love, but she is also tired of going it alone. In the run up to Christmas, the true spirit of the festive season begins to show.

A warmly told tale that takes Trisha Ashley fans back to Sticklepond, with colourful characters old and new.

November 10, 2013
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Author Interview: Beverley Eikli
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Author Interview: Beverley Eikli

Big thank you to The Reluctant Bride author Beverley Eikli for answering a few questions for CLP today! When did you know writing was for you? I…

November 8, 2013
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Author Guest Post: Francine LaSala
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Author Guest Post: Francine LaSala

Writing in a Tsunami
Francine LaSala

When I was younger, before I had a husband or kids or a mortgage, I had many restrictions on writing. What time of day was appropriate, among countless other conditions. Before I was married, had two kids, and got swallowed by my house, how many works of fiction do you think I published? Zero. Zilch. Nada.

I make my living as a copywriter and ghostwriter of nonfiction and, more recently, fiction. So, yes, I published more than thirty works of nonfiction before I turned thirty-five, but for some reason, I could never get the fiction out. I had the “ideas,” I just never met the specific, ridiculous, “ideals” I set up for myself to actually do this fiction writing:

* at night, but not too late
* only Tuesday through Thursday (need to party all weekend, and then recover!)
* need to write on a clear head (see above)
* but also need to do some considerable drinking of wine to get the words to flow…
* need absolute quiet

There were about 20 others, but you get the idea. If I could not write in the ideal situation, I could not write. That cost me about fifteen years.

I finally came to realize that I was never happier than when I ran dialog and plot lines in my head, and I knew I had to get them out of me. But how could I possibly have time to write–with a job and a freelance business and a house and two small kids to take care of? I had to make the time. If it meant waking up at 4am or scratching out notes while I waited for the kids at the bus stop, I had to find those stolen moments, because in them was my whole reason for being. (I wrote so much of The Girl, the Gold Tooth & Everything longhand at the bus stop, and sometimes could even be found with my laptop smushed between me and the steering wheel. True story.)

I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about me–that I’m some super over-achiever. I’m not. I’m actually quite lazy. (Really, you should see my house.) But I came to realize that if I wanted to be a writer, if I really wanted to be a writer, I had to force it into my life.

Now, when people ask me about my writing process, I can honestly say it’s like writing in a tsunami. There are always kids swirling around–my daughters and their friends. And debris. Lots of debris. There are a million tasks that can’t be put off every day (plus a million others I ignore). My writing environment is noisy and sort of dirty. But all the restrictions are lifted now. And now that I know there are no ideal conditions for writing, I’ve been writing my face off–I’m shooting to release three novels in 2014! Why not?

All I’m saying is if I can do it, you can do it. When you really want to do it, you will. Just remember:

1. There is no such thing as an “ideal” time to write. Let writing come when it comes. Don’t give it restrictions; it will resent you. Embrace it. Let it climb into your lap whenever it needs a cuddle. It will reward you.
2. Keep prepared. Carry a pad and pen with you at all times. If you wake up in the night with an idea, sit up and scribble it down. Don’t be lazy. If you get an idea in the shower, step out of the shower, drip over to the sink or toilet or wherever that pen and pad is and jot it down. (Note: Ballpoint pens are your best bet in this situation.)
3. Your muse does not judge you. Your muse is not a fussy houseguest. Your muse wants to hang out with you in your PJs in your messy living room and drink wine and watch Lifetime TV with you and giggle with you. If you view your muse more like your pal and less like your mother-in-law*, you’re going to have a much more relaxed relationship.
4. It’s now or never. You can spend your whole life talking yourself out of writing. I meet people like this every day. I nod at the excuses of why they’d love to but just don’t have the time. I hope some day, like me, maybe they’ll see that they do. Life is short. If you have dreams, live them. If you want to be a writer, write.

* Just for the record, I use this “mother-in-law” thing as a broad-stroke, sort of cliched example. I have an awesome mother-in-law. (But I still clean for her. Not really for any one else.)

November 6, 2013
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Author Interview: Miranda Dickinson
Chick Lit Authors

Author Interview: Miranda Dickinson

Thank to Miranda Dickinson for taking the time to answer some questions for CLP today! When did you know writing was for you? I wanted…

November 6, 2013
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Author Interview: Renee Rosen
Chick Lit Authors

Author Interview: Renee Rosen

Thanks to Renee Rosen, author of Dollface, for answering questions on CLP today!  Why was Dollface a book you wanted to write? I love the Roaring Twenties…

November 5, 2013
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In My Mailbox: Week of November 3
Chick Lit Plus

In My Mailbox: Week of November 3

Title: Driving Me to You
Author: Julie Farrell
Received: CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: When Sam meets her sister’s sexy mechanic, Verlaine, she instantly falls for those gorgeous brown eyes and rugged charms, and a secret romance begins. Unfortunately, there’s unfinished business between Sam and her monstrous childhood nemesis. No, not her sister Gemma, but her late-father’s beloved Bentley.
Gemma is struggling to save the family vintage-car business, and it doesn’t help that little sis has just swanned back home, with no intention of helping. Gemma knows the only solution is to involve Sam’s old flame, the charismatic venture capitalist, Marcus Priestley. But Marcus is compelled to win Sam back, and he certainly won’t let the hired help muscle-in.
Verlaine is Gemma’s sexy mechanic, who’s trying to blag it as a chauffeur. But he’s so bad at tying his necktie, he looks like a stripper at a hen night. Working with Gemma’s vintage cars is his dream job, but things get complicated when he falls for the boss’s sister and sets himself up as rival to Marcus. Then the road trip adventure from London to Brighton beach begins!
Who will Sam choose in the love triangle? The penniless new love or the wealthy ex? And how will she tame the Bentley, to become the strong and powerful woman that she’s always known she could be?
This charming comedy covers modern issues for modern women, such as dating, relationships, careers, friendship, and, of course, love.

Title: White Lies
Author: Emily Harper
Received: Emily Harper
Synopsis: Imagine standing in line at Harvey Nichols waiting to buy the most gorgeous silk Gucci dress. The only minor problem? You can’t afford it, it’s a size smaller than you are, and you have absolutely no place to wear it.
Meet Natalie Flemming: a twenty-something woman working in London for a fabulous shoe-designing firm, but the only thing they let her touch is the company’s tax forms. She has decided to give fate a vacation and takes the task of finding the man of her dreams (or Johnny Depp if he would just return her calls…) into her own hands.
She craves adventure, spontaneity, passion- or will just settle for a decent date.

Title: Love & Limoncello
Author: Alexandra Sage
Received: Alexandra Sage
Synopsis: Disgruntled City lawyer Alessia Vincenzi is bullied at work by the boss from hell and increasingly frustrated with her volatile love life revolving around commitment-phobe Matt and reserved workaholic Josh.

When Alessia is made redundant following a drunken email rant at her bosses, she quickly takes up her cousin Luca’s offer to spend the summer at his luxury villa in Sorrento, and attend the high-profile opening of his new restaurant, ‘Decadenza’.

Disappointed when work prevents Josh from spending a week at the villa with three other friends – Sophie, Charles and Giles – Alessia soon meets hard-up but hunky gardener Antonio, and handsome but intense artist Giancarlo, and tries her hand at making limoncello as a money-making scheme to help Antonio.

Following a disastrous date with Giancarlo, things get increasingly complicated when Josh unexpectedly flies out to Sorrento, and it soon becomes clear that a disturbing secret ties Alessia’s family with Giancarlo’s, threatening Alessia’s chances with Josh, and leading to potentially fatal consequences.

Title: Broken
Author: CJ Lyons
Received: Sourcebooks
Synopsis: For Scarlet Killian, every day is a game of Russian roulette—she has a 1 in 5 chance of dying…

New York Times bestselling author CJ Lyons makes her YA debut with a fast-paced thriller sure to keep readers guessing to the very last page.

Fifteen-year-old Scarlet Killian has one chance for a normal life. Only problem? It just might kill her. Diagnosed with a rare and untreatable heart condition, Scarlet has never taken the school bus. Or giggled with friends during lunch. Or spied on a crush out of the corner of her eye. Scarlet has come to terms with the fact that despite the best efforts of her doctors and parents, she’s going to die. Literally of a broken heart. So when her parents offer her a week to prove she can survive high school, Scarlet knows her time is now… or never.

Scarlet can feel her heart beating out of control with every slammed locker and every sideways glance in the hallway. But for the first time in her life she makes real friends. She also makes new discoveries about the truth behind her illness… a truth that might just kill her before her heart does.

Title: Dangled Carat
Author: Hilary Grossman
Received: Hilary Grossman
Synopsis: Hilary had gotten used to dating the commitment-phobic Marc, thirteen years her senior. They had a great relationship—why rush into things? She saw no need to pressure him for marriage, believing that when the time was right, he would propose. But after they had been together for four years, their friends decided to take matters into their own hands, pushing Marc to propose and making Hilary realize how much she really did want to marry the man that she loved. Unfortunately, Marc still wasn’t ready—and their friends’ meddling in the form of a faux engagement party led to a disastrous New Year’s Eve that brought their relationship to an inevitable turning point.

In this relatable, lighthearted, and playful memoir, Hilary reminisces about her life before Marc—from the insecure and awkward teenage years she spent in a back brace and dealing with the loss of her father, to her early relationships and, finally, to the day she met Marc and realized that she really wanted to see him again. Through their first date—even though Hilary was technically seeing someone else at the time—and the ease of their early time together until Marc first decided that they were moving too quickly, up until that fateful New Year’s Eve, Hilary shares the details of their relationship and how Marc’s inability to commit led her to find an inner strength and confidence she didn’t know she possessed.

For anyone who has ever dated a commitment-phobe, who has found their patience wearing thin with the one they love, or who has sat around wondering if he is ever going to pop the question while trying to remain the very picture of patience and grace, Hilary’s humorous and honest story will hit home.

Title: Christmas Bliss
Author: Mary Kay Andrews
Received: Tandem Literary
Synopsis: ‘Twas the night before Christmas, and Savannah was breezy
But there’s trouble afoot – and it’s heading toward Weezie.
Seems BeBe’s been holding a big secret back
that would make Santa’s reindeer stop dead in their tracks.
Can these two best friends wriggle out of these twists?
Will they do it in time to ensure CHRISTMAS BLISS?

Return to the wonderful world of Mary Kay Andrews’ Savannah with Christmas Bliss.

November 3, 2013
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