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Blog Tour Sign Up: Lowcountry Bombshell by Susan M. Boyer

Private Investigator Liz Talbot thinks she’s seen another ghost when she meets Calista McQueen. She’s the spitting image of Marilyn Monroe. Born precisely fifty years after the ill-fated star, Calista’s life has eerily mirrored the late starlet’s—and she fears the looming anniversary of Marilyn’s death will also be hers.

Before Liz can open a case file, Calista’s life coach is executed. Suspicious characters swarm around Calista like mosquitoes on a sultry lowcountry evening: her certifiable mother, a fake aunt, her control-freak psychoanalyst, a private yoga instructor, her peculiar housekeeper, and an obsessed ex-husband. Liz digs in to find a motive for murder, but she’s besieged with distractions. Her ex has marriage and babies on his mind. Her too-sexy partner engages in a campaign of repeat seduction. Mamma needs help with Daddy’s devotion to bad habits. And a gang of wild hogs is running loose on Stella Maris.

With the heat index approaching triple digits, Liz races to uncover a diabolical murder plot in time to save not only Calista’s life, but also her own.

On Tour: Getting Skinny Monique Domovitch

Monique will be on tour June 24-July 15 with her novel Getting Skinny Owning a restaurant is as crazy for Nicky Landry as an alcoholic…

Interview with Aimee Duffy

Thanks to Aimee Duffy for sharing this Q&A with CLP today! Keep reading below for an excerpt from Sinfully Summer When did you know writing…

Book Review: Call Me Zelda by Erika Robuck

I received a copy of Call Me Zelda by Erika Robuck in exchange for an honest review.
Summary:
Everything in the ward seemed different now, and I no longer felt its calming presence. The Fitzgeralds stirred something in me that had been dormant for a long time, and I was not prepared to face it….
From New York to Paris, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald reigned as king and queen of the Jazz Age, seeming to float on champagne bubbles above the mundane cares of the world. But to those who truly knew them, the endless parties were only a distraction from their inner turmoil, and from a love that united them with a scorching intensity.

When Zelda is committed to a Baltimore psychiatric clinic in 1932, vacillating between lucidity and madness in her struggle to forge an identity separate from her husband, the famous writer, she finds a sympathetic friend in her nurse, Anna Howard. Held captive by her own tragic past, Anna is increasingly drawn into the Fitzgeralds’ tumultuous relationship. As she becomes privy to Zelda’s most intimate confessions, written in a secret memoir meant only for her, Anna begins to wonder which Fitzgerald is the true genius. But in taking ever greater emotional risks to save Zelda, Anna may end up paying a far higher price than she intended….
Review:
I have been reading a lot lately about the Fitzgerald’s and their seemingly glamorous lives in the 1920’s, and I was looking forward to reading Call Me Zelda. I enjoyed the spin on this book in that it wasn’t just about the Fitzgerald’s, or even Zelda. We are given the viewpoint of Anna, a fictitious psychiatric nurse that finds Zelda Fitzgerald in her ward one day. Readers go on quite a journey with Anna, as she befriends the increasingly erratic Zelda throughout her hospital stay, crosses paths with the famous Scott Fitzgerald, and essentiality becomes a part of their family. The book isn’t only about the Fitzgerald’s though, as we see Anna struggle with losing her husband to the war and her daughter to illness, to her trying to find love, and then of course – to her trying to understand her relationship with the Fitzgerald’s. This book was quite intriguing, and I loved being able to open my mind to different scenarios. I liked Robuck’s writing and style, so I will be sure to check out Hemingway’s Girl as well!
4 stars

Future Tour: Between Friends by Amanda Cowen

Amanda will be on tour July 29-August 19 with her contemporary romance novel Between Friends The only way to have a friend is to be…

Cover Reveal & Giveaway: Psycho-Mommy by Mira Harlon

CLP is excited to share the cover of Psycho-Mommy by Mira Harlon!   Jessica Reed, a vibrant type-A-psychologist, is the ultimate planner: Acceptance to the…

Book Review: The Unexpected List by Chrissy Anderson

I received a copy of The Unexpected List by Chrissy Anderson in exchange for an honest review.
Summary:
Chrissy Anderson’s The Unexpected List delivers another charismatic combination of romance and anguish, peppered with large doses of wit. In this second novel from THE LIST TRILOGY, Chrissy, who is now divorced from her husband, Kurt, is finally free to pursue a “truly, madly, deeply” relationship with the man of her dreams, Leo.

And it looks like Chrissy is finally going to be able to have her wedding cake and eat it too as Leo valiantly tries to make all of her dreams come true. But once again, Chrissy’s world, and her relationships, are turned upside-down as someone else close to her dies. And, an unexpected gift forces her to grow up– fast. For a second time, Chrissy is pushed to make a choice between love and obligation. What will she choose this time?

Your favorite characters from The Life List are back. Dr. Maria, Slutty Co-worker, and Chrissy’s best friends from high school, Courtney and Nicole, continue to laugh and cry with Chrissy as she learns how to pick herself up and move on to achieve the life she’s always wanted, and now knows she deserves.

As in The Life List, not everyone will agree with Chrissy Anderson’s decisions, but all will pause as they follow along on her journey to ask, “What would I do if I were her?”
Review:
I was super excited times ten to read this book, as I just loved the first in this trilogy, The Life List. I found myself thinking about the characters and if Chrissy ended up Leo, as we are left with a cliffhanger. Now, this is going to be an interesting review. Why? Because I didn’t love all the aspects of this book. I struggled with some of the editing. For example, I don’t like sentences like this: Smiling from ear to ear, “So what?” Taking my hands, “I see very beautiful things.” My editor self was cringing when I read these types of sentences. Also, the beginning threw me off a bit. I thought the prologue was a bit too long, and too much of trying to keep an air of mystery. I just wanted the story to start all right, and stop with all the mysteriousness of it. Now, even after that being said…I’m giving this book a 5 star review. If I ever find something wrong with the editing it’s an automatic no 5 star, a 4.5 at best. So why would I have two things about the book that I dislike and still rate it 5 stars? Because I absolutely loved this story, and did not want to put it down (after I got through the prologue). The ending had me practically panting, and I actually felt crushed – crushed! – when the book ended at yet another cliffhanger. I felt even more crushed when I saw the third and final installment won’t be here until winter. These books are having a profound effect on me, and I’m talking to everyone I know about them. I think the about the characters, wonder about their lives, and find myself continuing the stories in my mind how I hope they will end. Very rarely, and I mean VERY rarely, does this happen. So yes, while I might find aspects that I didn’t totally like, in all I loved this book as a whole. I highly recommend this trilogy!
5 stars

Blog Tour Sign Up: The Unraveling of Bebe Jones by …

Roje will be on tour in September with her fiction novel The Unraveling of Bebe Jones. I am looking for book bloggers to post reviews,…

CLP Blog Tours Book Review: Aggravated Circumstances by Michele Shriver

Michele Shriver is now on tour with CLP Blog Tours and Aggravated Circumstances
Summary:
A family can be torn apart in an instant. Putting it back together is a harder task.

A relapsed addict opens the door to find a cop with a search warrant, setting off a chain of events that will cause four lives to intersect.

Devin Lenox has already lost one child to the system and this time she vows it will be different. If she’s going to make it, though, she’ll need something she’s never had before- someone on her side.

Her battle with depression behind her, Elisa Cahill looks forward to resuming her legal career. Devin’s case seems like the perfect opportunity to do that, and bury her own past demons in the process, at least if old grudges don’t prove to be her undoing.

Child protection worker Taylor Ross struggles to balance a social life with her demanding job and has little sympathy for people like Devin, at least at first. When Taylor starts to see Devin in a new light, she finds herself at odds with her superiors. Will she be willing to go to bat for Devin, and what price will she pay if she does?

Sarah Canfield is a compassionate judge who is not afraid to make difficult decisions, but will her past link to Devin undermine her objectivity and cause her to put her own family at risk?

A look inside the child welfare system, the people who work in it and the lives it impacts, Aggravated Circumstances is a story of despair, hope and recovery.

Review:
This book was fascinating, and quite hard to put down. An emotional and deep story, I found myself talking to my friends and family about the situation of the women involved, about the system, and about the processes that come along with a parent who struggles with addiction. I loved getting a POV from all involved, and think it worked really well to have Devin’s POV in first person. She would definitely be the hardest to relate to and not the easiest character to stand behind, so I think that format worked out really well. This is a novel that will make readers become emotionally invested in the story, and I highly recommend.
4.5 stars