Chick Lit Plus by Samantha March

Latest Youtube Videos

Book Review: Cinnamon Roll Murder by Joanne Fluke
Chick Lit Review

Book Review: Cinnamon Roll Murder by Joanne Fluke

I received a copy of Cinnamon Roll Murder by Joanne Fluke in exchange for an honest review.
Summary:
April is a busy time for Hannah Swensen and her bakery; the warm weather makes folks in Lake Eden, Minnesota, go wild for something sweet. When Hannah hears that the Cinnamon Roll Six jazz band will be playing at the town’s Weekend Jazz Festival, she’s more than happy to bake up a generous supply of their namesake confections to welcome the band to town.
Before the festival even begins, tragedy strikes when the tour bus overturns. Among those injured is Buddy Neiman, the band’s beloved keyboard player. Buddy’s injuries appear minor, until his condition suddenly takes a turn for the worse–as in dead. Hannah’s no doctor, but she suspects that the surgical scissors someone plunged into Buddy’s chest may have something to do with it. Hannah isn’t sure just how she’ll unravel the mystery, but one thing’s for sure: nothing’s sweeter than bringing a killer to justice. . .
Review:
While I normally enjoy a mystery novel (and baked goods!) I had trouble getting into this book. I think a large part might have been because this book is a part of a series, and I haven’t read anything else in it. I always felt like I was one step behind everyone else, or the person sitting outside the gossip circle looking in. It was also a bit predictable, which almost feels weird to say knowing that I wasn’t familiar with the characters or the previous storylines, but even then I knew what was going to happen before it did. There were some humorous parts and sections that piqued my interest, but in the end, it fell a bit flat for me.
2.5 stars

May 27, 2013
Leave a comment
In My Mailbox: Week of May 26
Chick Lit Plus

In My Mailbox: Week of May 26

Title: Stupid By Choice

Author: Leighton Summers

Received: From Smith Publicity

Synopsis: A novel about the adventures and regrets of a Texas Oil Princess’s quest for finding love… Melanie St. John is a beautiful, smart, rich Texan daddy’s girl born to a bold, high-powered lawyer in the oil business who helps Melanie grow into someone who is both worldly and capable. But once she leaves college and enters the privileged world of dating highly sought-after men of leisure, she is catapulted in and out of the wealthiest places on the globe while hoping to get married and start a family with one of them. But these mostly destructive love affairs soon become a dynamic exploration of wealth and love, with all the highs and lows. And to complicate matters she is surrounded by her older, free-wheeling, wildcat sister (and her sister’s exotic but destructive best friend) as well as her own two completely opposite best friends, and each of them also hopes to find their own Prince Charming—which all only adds to the competition, adventures, and scandals. But throughout each relationship Melanie explores the deeper, more prevalent themes of family, friendship, love, intimacy, freedom, betrayal, motherhood, and most of all, inner strength.

His Fantasy Maid by Susan BlexrudTitle: His Fantasy Maid

Author: Susan Blexrud

Received: Via CLP Blog Tours

Synopsis: On the eve of Jake Sinclair’s bachelor party, his best man surprises him with a fantasy maid named Amy. Clad in a bikini, she cleans his house and jump starts his heart. She’s beautiful, smart, and compassionate. Why is a woman like this working as a fantasy maid? A few days later, with thoughts still distracted by the enigmatic Amy, Jake crashes his car and wakes in the hospital emergency room where his fantasy maid is now wearing scrubs and wielding a stethoscope. Is she an hallucination, or is his fantasy maid a doctor?

Expected by Sarah EnglandTitle: Expected

Author: Sarah England

Received: From Crooked Cat Publishing

Synopsis: Sam Sweet is terrified of giving birth.

Only,she doesn’t daretell anyone. Especially her grandchild-obsessed mother or herfiancé, Simon – top surgeon by day, mind-game expert by night.

Repressed by the expectations of others, Sam feels trapped. All she ever wanted was a career and a crack at independence, but as a catastrophically failed psychiatric nurse who now injects fillers into the crinkled faces of unhappy women, a career is proving tricky. There’s something wrong with the product and clients are suing.

Jealous work colleagues stir up scandalous gossip, and soon Sam hits rock bottom, consoling herself with button-popping chocolate binges and terrifying spending sprees.

Sam is going to have to find her voice if she ever wants to be herself, fall in love, and follow her dreams.

Alas, the wedding date is set…

Love in Darkness by EM TippettsTitle: Love in Darkness

Author: EM Tippetts

Received: From EM Tippetts

Synopsis: Alex had everything when he was with Madison. But the darkness within him wouldn’t go away. After two years apart, he returns to Pelican Bluffs and to the girl he never wanted to leave. Madison wants to give their love another chance, but Alex can’t fight fate. He is what he is. Ruined. Crazy like his mother. And Madison deserves so much more. When his secrets spill out into their small town, Alex has a choice to make. Hide away in the darkness forever, or let love in.

May 26, 2013
Leave a comment
Blog Tour Sign Up: Thirty-Two Going on Spinster by Becky Monson
CLP Blog Tours

Blog Tour Sign Up: Thirty-Two Going on Spinster by Becky …

“According to Webster’s dictionary,
A spinster is:

1: an unmarried woman of gentle family
2: an unmarried woman and especially one past the common age for marrying
3: a woman who seems unlikely to marry
4: me

Julia Dorning is a spinster, or at least on the road to becoming one. She has no social life, hates her job, and lives in her parent’s basement with her cat, Charlie.

With the arrival of Jared Moody, the new hire at work, Julia’s mundane life is suddenly turned upside down. Her instant (and totally ridiculous) crush on the new guy causes Julia to finally make some long-overdue changes, in hopes to find a life that includes more than baking and hanging out with Charlie.

But when the biggest and most unexpected change comes, will the new and improved Julia be able to overcome it? Or will she go back to her spinster ways?”

May 25, 2013
2 Comments
GIVEAWAY: Summer’s Song by Lindi Peterson
Updates

GIVEAWAY: Summer’s Song by Lindi Peterson

All she has to do is
prove that she’s changed . . . completely.

Pop-star princess Summer Sinclair doesn’t know what to do with herself now that she’s cleaned-up and sober. She knows God’s been nudging her, but since God is unfamiliar territory, she feels scared and alone. Everything changes when she meets Levi Preston, a Christian musician who’s falling for Summer and wants her to be who God created her to be. But when the reality of her life takes Levi to places he’s vowed to stay clear of, will Summer’s newfound freedom be what breaks her heart as she does what is best for Levi?

Giveaway!

I have one Kindle copy of Summer’s Song by Lindi Peterson up for giveaway! To enter, please just leave a comment below sharing your favorite moment(s) of summer. The winner will be chosen on Tuesday, May 28. Thanks to Lindi Peterson for sponsoring this giveaway. Good luck!

May 25, 2013
3 Comments
Book Review: Asleep Without Dreaming by Barbara Forte Abate
Chick Lit Review

Book Review: Asleep Without Dreaming by Barbara Forte Abate

I received a copy of Asleep Without Dreaming by Barbara Forte Abate in exchange for an honest review.

Summary:

Fourteen year old Willa Burkett has been waiting her whole life to leave Hoosick Falls, a nowhere place that fails to hold even a single good memory. But, when a series of vengeful incidents stir Willa’s mother Stella to impulsively pack-up and go, it is only to find themselves stranded in yet another ugly, near extinct town, only now, with a broken down car and no ready way out. Unable to move on until an alternate plan shows itself, they accept a job working for Omega Pearl Bodie, proprietress of the Moonglow motel, a long forgotten, steadily decaying relic, where mostly nothing happens, except now, when everything does. It is here in this place of desperate loneliness and restless boredom that Willa will have her world rocked to the core in ways she doesn’t immediately comprehend. The craziness of the life she’s left behind all but eclipsed by the dark turn of the here and now, as Willa attempts to keep one step ahead of the ever-twisting whims of a mother prone to keeping secrets and telling lies, a murderous arsonist returned to the scene of his earlier crimes to dole out revenge one fiery victim at a time, and Jesse Truman. An unknowable boy with indigo eyes that Omega Pearl has hired as handyman at the Moonglow, who Willa longs to save, if only she understood what it is he needs saving from.

Review:

Barbara Forte Abate does an amazing job at creating such intriguing characters that she draws you in from the very beginning. This book is very eerie and at times I was a little spooked by Willa’s mother because she was full of lies and secrets . Oddly enough, this book vaguely reminded me of the movie Psycho for some reason … like I said, it was a little eerie when I was reading it and with good reason. I loved Willa’s character and it absolutely broke my heart that she couldn’t have a better mother than Stella, but this story is complex and very intriguing. Overall, if you like a book that is a little darker than this one is for you.
Rating: 4 stars

May 24, 2013
Leave a comment
CLP Blog Tours Book Review: Cookies for Dinner by Pam Johnson-Bennett and Kae Allen
Chick Lit Review

CLP Blog Tours Book Review: Cookies for Dinner by Pam …

Pam Johnson-Bennett and Kae Allen are now on tour with CLP Blog Tours and Cookies for Dinner

Summary:
Pam and Kae are good friends but total opposites. Pam is a worrying germophobe and Kae stands by the philosophy that everyone will eat a pound of dirt in their lifetime. In this collection of humorous essays, Pam and Kae come clean on motherhood…
• No one tells you that your breasts will be treated like a fast food take-out window or that a ravenous infant can create more suction than industrial-grade vacuum cleaners.
• I went into labor with my first child four months after my soon-to-be ex-husband moved out to live with his girlfriend, six months after my 20th birthday and precisely the morning that I was having my house tended for ticks. Yes, ticks.
• Jumping off the cliff into potty training makes you realize that you didn’t truly appreciate the diaper years. Once you begin potty training, a toddler’s backside becomes a loaded gun, ready to launch its missile in whatever direction it happens to be pointing.
• No matter how we got on this ride, at some point we all end up standing on the checkout line at Walmart, totally unaware of the fact that we’re still wearing our pajama top.

Pam and Kae are living proof that even though every mother is different, we’re all on this roller coaster without a seatbelt. Scary? You bet, but it’s the ride of our lives.
Review:
I was worried for a hot second that I might not be able to connect with this book since I have yet to enjoy motherhood for myself. But that doubt flew out the window immediately. Pam and Kae take readers on a journey of their own experience, talking about the good, the bad, and the real ugly site of parenting. Their stories made me laugh out loud, text my girlfriends with the ‘OMG do you think this will happen to us?’ moments, and I whipped through book. Definitely one for mothers, future mothers, or really anyone who wants to get inside a mom’s head for a while. I will definitely think twice about shooting a mother a dirty look in the grocery store if their kid is bawling in the cart, for fear of her following me around the store in revenge 😉 Terrific read!

May 24, 2013
Leave a comment
On Tour: Where’s the Groom? by Sophie Meyer
CLP Blog Tours

On Tour: Where’s the Groom? by Sophie Meyer

Sophie will be on tour May 27-June 17 with her novel Where’s the Groom? Ashley, just turning thirty, is stuck with a string of bad…

May 23, 2013
Leave a comment
Cover Reveal: After Math by Denise Grover Swank
Chick Lit Authors

Cover Reveal: After Math by Denise Grover Swank

Denise Grover Swank is on tour now with CLP Blog Tours and sharing the brand-new cover of her latest novel After Math!

Summary:

Scarlett Goodwin’s world is divided into Before and After.

Before she agreed to tutor Tucker Price, college junior Scarlett was introvert, struggling with her social anxiety disorder and determined to not end up living in a trailer park like her mother and her younger sister. A mathematics major, she goes to her classes, to her job in the tutoring lab, and then hides in the apartment she shares with her friend, Caroline.

After junior Tucker Price, Southern University’s star soccer player enters the equation, her carefully plotted life is thrown off its axis. Tucker’s failing his required College Algebra class. With his eligibility is at risk, the university chancellor dangles an expensive piece of computer software for the math department if Scarlett agrees to privately tutor him. Tucker’s bad boy, womanizer reputation makes Scarlett wary of any contact, let alone spending several hours a week in close proximity.

But from her first encounter, she realizes Tucker isn’t the person everyone else sees. He carries a mountain of secrets which she suspects hold the reason to his self-destructive behavior. But the deeper she delves into the cause of his pain, the deeper she gets sucked into his chaos. Will Scarlett find the happiness she’s looking for, or will she be caught in Tucker’s aftermath?

**Everyone who leaves a comment on Denise’s tour page will be entered to win a $20 Amazon gift card! Anyone who purchases their copy of After Math before June 3 and sends their receipt to Samantha (at) ChickLitPlus (dot) com, will get five bonus entries.**

May 23, 2013
Leave a comment
Book Review: My Life on Craigslist by Alexandra Ares
Chick Lit Review

Book Review: My Life on Craigslist by Alexandra Ares

I received a copy of My Life on Craigslist by Alexandra Ares in exchange for an honest review. This book begins with Emily Thompson. She…

May 23, 2013
Leave a comment