January 2014 New Releases
Contributor: Allie January is the month of resolutions and new beginnings. For me, it’s also a month of hibernation with bowl games, NFL playoff games,…
On Tour: Vegas to Varanasi by Shelly Hickman
Shelly will be on tour January 13- 27 with her novel Vegas to Varanasi Anna has never been the beautiful one; she’s always been the…
Cover Reveal: A Questionable Friendship by Samantha March
A Questionable Friendship
By Samantha March
Pub Date: February 2014
Cover Design by Scarlett Rugers
Brynne Ropert and Portland Dolish have been best friends since being paired as roommates in college. Seven years later they are now twenty-five, married, and living in Maine–– but the two women couldn’t be more different. Brynne finds fulfillment in her life as a wife, mother and owner of a small café and bookshop, but is struggling to expand her family. Portland is still coping with her mother’s death during her childhood, and her marriage is unraveling before her eyes. Portland envies her friend’s seemingly stable and easy life while Brynne doesn’t understand the growing distance between them and cannot begin to guess what secret Portland is hiding about her husband and crumbling marriage. While one woman feels shut out, the other enters into a web of lies to protect herself.
A Questionable Friendship explores what really makes someone a true friend, a support system, a sister. How much trust goes into a friendship and when is being a friend not enough? Brynne and Portland’s story will attempt to answer those questions, and show that happily ever after isn’t in the cards for everyone.
Samantha March is an author, editor, publisher, blogger, and all around book lover. She runs the popular book/women’s lifestyle blog ChickLitPlus, which keeps her bookshelf stocked with the latest reads and up to date on all things health, fitness, fashion, and celebrity related. In 2011 she launched her independent publishing company Marching Ink and has three published novels – Destined to Fail, The Green Ticket and A Questionable Friendship. When she isn’t reading, writing, or blogging, you can find her cheering for the Green Bay Packers. Samantha lives in Iowa with her husband and Vizsla puppy.
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Book Review: Sweet Expectations by Mary Ellen Taylor
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
Summary:
Daisy McCrae knows that change can be sudden—and devastating. And while it doesn’t have to be a bad thing, change has the power to turn your whole world upside down….
Running the family bakery and living in the store’s attic might not be Daisy’s dream life, but she’s beginning to understand what being content feels like. And then she gets some unexpected news. In one moment, Daisy’s calm existence turns into chaos. Now she’s struggling to keep it together, especially with renovations at the bakery spiraling out of control.
But when a box of recipes and mementos is found hidden behind a wall in the bakery, Daisy suddenly has something to cling to—a mystery that echoes her own troubles and gives her the opportunity to figure out what she really wants out of life….
Review:
I read the first book in this series, Union Street Bakery, and thought it was marvelous! There was a good storyline and a bit of ghost aspect as well, and I read it quickly. Finally getting my hands on Sweet Expectations, I was looking forward to seeing how Daisy’s story continued to play out. Let me tell you – there is a quite a twist right at the beginning to really throw you for a loop! Once again we are introduced to a mystery that is hidden in the walls of the bakery, found when the sisters start to do renovations. I loved the sub-plot of that took Daisy on a search and find mission, and both sisters got a little more limelight in this one as well. The only thing I didn’t like as much was constantly being reminded that Daisy was abandoned by her mom and the fact that she really can’t seem to move past it. But other than that, really good book and I recommend the first one as well!
4.5 stars
Blog Tour Sign Up: The Seduction of Miriam Cross by …
A sordid sex tape.
A venture capital firm.
A secret society of women.
A Catholic nun.
Can Delilah figure out who killed Miriam Cross before she becomes the killer’s next target?
Miriam Cross, author, feminist and philanthropist, disappears from her Philadelphia home. A year later, a lonely recluse named Emily Cray is brutally murdered in her bed in a small Pennsylvania town. Miriam and Emily are one and the same.
As Delilah and her staff of female detectives – a militant homemaker, an ex-headmistress and a former stripper – delve into Miriam’s life, they become submerged in an underworld of unfathomable cruelty and greed with implications that go far beyond the gruesome death of one woman or the boundaries of one country. Eventually Miriam’s fight for justice becomes Delilah’s own …. and Delilah’s obsession with finding the truth may prove just as deadly.
My Top Ten of 2013
And another year is in the books! 2013 was fabulous for me – bought a house, got married, got a puppy. Marching Ink published two novels, I finished my third (to be published in February), and went to BookBuzz Toronto – check out my author blog for that experience! Also on that blog are my goals for 2014. Instead of a resolution I thought of 10 goals I would like to achieve this year. I hope to be able to check them all off! I reviewed 189 novels in 2013 on Chick Lit Plus (crazy!) and while I think that number will go down this year because of the different projects I’m doing, I still hope to review around 100. I guess we’ll see…in 2015!
Here are my ten favorite reads of 2013. Enjoy my list and Happy New Year all!
Blogger Girl – Meredith Schorr
Hush Little Baby – Suzanne Redfearn
The Girl You Left Behind – JoJo Moyes
Everybody’s Got a Story – Heather Wardell
The Life List – Chrissy Anderson
How To Eat a Cupcake – Meg Donohue
Becoming Mrs. Walsh – Jessica Gordon
Zoey & The Moment of Zen – Cat Lavoie
Caramel and Magnolias – Tess Thompson
Hard Hats and Doormats – Laura Chapman
Book Review: Sugar Spun Sister by Anna Garner
How do you help your best friend better her life when she’s stuck in a miserable copywrighting job (and a boss who hates her), a relationship that will never make it past “friends with benefits” (or so her boyfriend says), and who has the uncanny knack to make life’s situations tastefully yummy while developing amazing ice cream flavors in her kitchen? Well, Lindsay & Nora help and encourage Cricket Whittier to open her own ice cream shop.
Cricket has always wanted to open up her own shop one day, but the timing has never felt right for her. After a taste test run in the local park, Lindsay & Nora show Cricket that she DOES have what it would take to be a successful entrepreneur. Encouraging words, best friend support and all the heavy cream in the world doesn’t make it easy for Cricket to open her shop, but she soon finds out that hard work, determination and having dreams that are bigger than the nay-sayers (in addition to the encouragement, support and heavy cream) is exactly what she needs to be successful. After forming a partnership with her best friends, Cricket is celebrating the opening of her very own gourmet ice cream shop.
Sugar Spun Sister is the story of a young woman who follows her heart and makes her dreams come true. Filled with laughter and best friends, Anna Garner hit it again with a great story. She’s quickly becoming one of my favorite new authors. I can’t wait for the second book in this new series!
On Tour: New Beginnings by Mary Metcalfe
Mary will be on tour January 13-31 with her novel New Beginnings Workaholic real estate agent Carol Brock can’t seem to find a good man. Her…
CLP Blog Tours Novel Spotlight: The Holdout by Laurel Osterkamp
Laurel is on tour now with CLP Blog Tours and The Holdout Robin wanted to win The Holdout, a cutthroat reality TV show, so she gave…
