Future Tour: Swan Story by Priya Narendran
Priya will be on tour April 22-29 with her fairytale romance novel Swan Story Soon to be married Daniel Macgregor meets mysterious beauty Sarah Mitchell…
Author Profile: Sarra Manning
Author Name: Sarra Manning
Website: http://www.sarramanning.co.uk/index.php
Bio: Sarra Manning has been a fashion, lifestyle and entertainment journalist for over fifteen years. Her writing career started on the music paper, Melody Maker and involved a long stint on the legendary teen mag, Just Seventeen, before she went on to launch and edit Elle Girl and What To Wear, as well as consulting on a number of magazines including The Face, Look and More.
Her first adult novel, Unsticky, was heat magazine’s book of the week and Sarra is also a best-selling teen novelist. Her YA titles include Adorkable, Guitar Girl, the Diary Of A Crush trilogy, Let’s Get Lost, and Nobody’s Girl, which made the shortlist of the BookTrust Teenage Prize in 2010.
Sarra also writes for Grazia, Red, The Guardian, Stylist, Fabulous, Stella, You Magazine, and InStyle.
She lives in North London and prides herself on her unique ability to accessorise.
See my review for Nine Uses For an Ex-Boyfriend!
CLP Blog Tours Book Review: Love at 11 by Mari Mancusi
Mari Mancusi is now on tour with CLP Blog Tours and Love at 11. This story follows Maddy, a producer for the local News 9 in San Diego. While she had high hopes for obtaining a position at Newsline, she hasn’t gotten any further than producing fluff pieces that either no one cares about or is dangerously close to not being factual. When she manages to snag a promotion and land a super-hot camera guy all in one fell swoop, Maddy wonders if her luck might turn around. But the promotion comes with an arrogant anchor, no better stories, and her hot camera guy Jamie turns out to be engaged – to a gorgeous model/actress living in LA. With her parents getting a divorce and her wild-child younger sister moving in with her, Maddy is wondering if she can keep it all together. When the chance for an exclusive exposé gets thrown into her lap, Maddy tries to get her priorities straight once again – but can she have it all?
Love at 11 is a fabulous look into a newsroom and the chaos and characters that come with. This story is very modern, fast-paced, and so realistic. Maddy makes mistakes, but she works hard on not letting them define here. There are two great stories written into one here – the issue with Maddy’s family, especially her sister Lulu, and Maddy’s career and love life, and how the two mix together. I was on the edge of my seat during many parts of this book, and I couldn’t wait to see how it ended. I don’t want to give the ending away, but I was really glad to see not everything worked out so smoothly with Jamie. Sometimes I come to expect stories that wrap up in a neat little bow, and we all know life doesn’t really work out that way. I loved this book, and give it 5 stars!
5 stars
Blog Tour Sign Up: Identity Break by Stifyn Emrys
“How far would you go to find yourself?
Imagine everything you thought you knew about yourself turned out to be a lie, and you didn’t know who was telling the truth. Imagine you possessed a secret so dangerous that, if it were exposed, it would reshape the entire world. What would you do if that secret were your very identity?
“In almost every way, Palo Vista seems like a typical California city, with office buildings, schools, and homes sprawled out across suburbia, filled with families making a life for themselves at the dawn of the new millennium.
“But two seniors at Mt. MacMurray High are about to find out that nothing is as it seems. Jason Nix is a star athlete and honors student who can’t seem to remember anything about his childhood. Elyse Van Auten is a budding artist from a broken home whose father left her mother two years ago – or so she’s been led to believe.
“Like most teens entering adulthood, Elyse and Jason just want to find out who they really are. For them, however, the stakes go far beyond their own personal quest. Join them on a journey of self-discovery that becomes a desperate fight for survival against enemies determined to conceal the truth … and find out what happens when that fight becomes personal.”
In My Mailbox: Week of February 3
In Samantha’s Mailbox:
love-in-translationTitle: Love in Translation
Author: Sara Palacios
Received: Via CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: Still reeling from an unexpected breakup, Emily nurses her broken heart by spending time with her best friends and taking one-too-many vodka shots. After one long night, she takes a hard look inside herself and doesn’t like what she sees. She realizes that she has sacrificed too much in her failed relationships from the past and vows to never settle for anything less than almost-perfect again. As she picks up the pieces and regains her confidence, a sexy Spanish chef moves in across the hall and knocks her off her feet. What ensues is an unexpected and tantalizing affair that opens her eyes – and her heart – to a whole new world and leaves her feeling sexier than she has ever felt. Emily finally sees how easy love is supposed to be. Is happily-ever-after actually possible? Just when she starts to think so, she realizes that sometimes life gets more complicated before it gets easier. And complicated is an understatement when Steven (her best and oldest friend in the world) confesses his love for her. Everything spirals out of control as Emily must make a choice between love and friendship, and in doing so, possibly risk it all.
LOVE IN TRANSLATION is a modern day love story about following your heart to unexpected places and taking chances in life … because sometimes you will find exactly what you are looking for.
swanTitle: Swan Story
Author: Priya Narendran
Received: Via CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: Soon to be married Daniel Macgregor meets mysterious beauty Sarah Mitchell on the day his father gives him a ballet company as a present. Although at first reluctant to take responsibility, he changes his mind when he realizes Sarah dances for the same company. Over the course of the production of “Swan Lake” they fall head over heels in love. Unknown to Daniel, Sarah is cursed to turn into a swan from sunset to sunrise and only true love will break the spell. So it makes Sarah wonder, what will happen when he finds out what she is.
eighty eightTitle: Eighty-Eight Keys
Author: Catherine Lavender
Received: Via CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: Leah is a young woman who is trying to break free from a strict religious background and pursue her dream as a pianist in the world of show business. While trying to find her independence her heart is held captive by Jason Rowe a local basketball star who established an organization to help troubled youth. When Jason is found murdered in his home, Leah is determined to get answers from a closed investigation. During her state of emotional turmoil, Leah finds comfort not only in the melody of her music, but in the arms of a married man named Calvin. With her dreams at her fingertips, Leah is tangled in a web of lies and deceit. Despite the fear of learning the truth, Leah has to realize that only the truth can set her free.
A dead lover, with a trail of broken hearts…
A married man, with a double-life…
A dream chaser, with a killer at her heels…
A piano, with eighty-eight keys…
katieTitle: A French Affair
Author: Katie Fforde
Received: Randomhouse
Synopsis: Gina and Sally Makepiece have inherited a stall in the French House – an antiques centre nestled in the heart of the English countryside.
Gina is determined to drag the French House and its grumpy owner into the twenty-first century. Bearing all the attributes of a modern-day Mr Rochester, Matthew Ballinger is less than happy with the whirlwind that has arrived on his doorstep.
The last thing either of them want is to fall in love.
But will a trip to France change their minds?
Essex GirlsTitle: Essex Girls
Author: Laura Ziepe
Received: Avon
Synopsis: You can take the girl out of Essex …
You’ll be well jel over the adventures of three good-hearted, strong-willed, fake-baked Essex Girls. Fun, fresh and always ream, this novel Perfect for fans of TOWIE and the novels of Katie Price.
Jade did everything she could to fit in at university – toned down her tan, gave up on her favourite fake lashes, swapped designer dresses for jeans. And it seemed to make her boyfriend Tom happy. But obviously not quite happy enough.
When Jade finds Tom’s been cheating she heads home: to Essex. Reunited with her best mates Kelly and Lisa, even a night out at The Sugar Hut isn’t enough to put a smile back on her face. So they hatch a plan to get away from it all, to a place so ream it’s unreal – Marbella. Sun, sea, men, vajazzles: what could possibly go wrong?
In Sara’s Mailbox:
mooseTitle: The One-Way Bridge
Author: Cathie Pelletier
Received: Source Books
Synopsis: Cathie Pelletier draws readers back to the beloved town of Mattagash, a seemingly quiet New England outpost in Maine. Yet Mattagash is anything but tranquil. While its citizens bicker publicly over small-town theft or their neighbors’ offensive mailboxes, they privately struggle through deeper life issues: scandal, loss, failed ambitions, and the scars of war.
Reaching across the vastness of America and into the jungles of Vietnam, The One-Way Bridge is an unforgettable portrait of loneliness, family, and community—and the kinds of changes we make for love.
white windTitle: A White Wind Blew
Author: James Markert
Received: Source Books
Synopsis: When the body fails, you’ve got two choices. Send a doctor in, or send a prayer up. And if neither works?
You’ll find Dr. Wolfgang Pike at his piano.
Music has always been Wolfgang’s refuge. It’s betraying him now, as he struggles to compose a requiem for his late wife, but surely the right ending will come to him. Certainly it’ll come more quickly than a cure for his patients up at Waverly Hills, the tuberculosis hospital, where nearly a body an hour leaves in a coffin. Wolfgang can’t seem to save anyone these days, least of all himself.
Sometimes we just need to know we’re not the only ones in the fight. A former concert pianist checks in, triggering something deep inside Wolfgang, and spreading from patient to patient. Soon Wolfgang finds himself in the center of an orchestra that won’t give up, with music that won’t stop. A White Wind Blew delivers a sweeping crescendo of hope in a time of despair, raising compelling questions about faith and confession, music and medicine,and the undying force of love.
Future Tour: Nobody’s Damsel by E.M. Tippetts
E.M. will be on tour April 29-May 20 with her chick lit novel Nobody’s Damsel Chloe has finished her masters degree and taken a job…
Book Review: The Love of My (Other) Life by Traci …
I received a copy of The Love of My (Other) Life by Traci L. Slatton in exchange for an honest review.
This book begins with an introduction to Tessa. Tessa is a struggling painter who has been left behind by her husband with tons of bills that need to be paid. Over the years she has made some serious missteps in her career but hopes to eventually turn that around. Then, we meet Brian Tennyson. He is smart and funny and he really takes a whole of her … but he claims to be from another universe. And, he says that in their universe, they’re actually married. So, what’s a girl to do? Tessa’s world gets thrown upside down as she tries to find the truth and really begins to wonder about second chances and fate vs. coincidence. Are the two in fact soul-mates?
I was so interested when I first read the synopsis for the book and slightly thought it would read like a sci-fi novel. Well, if you are worried like I was, there is no need because this book is too cute for words. I instantly felt the spark when Tessa and Brian met and although it sounds odd, I believed him when he was he was from another universe from the get-go. This book is a riot and I really enjoyed it. I loved the conversations and the heart-felt-moments between the two main characters and I thought Traci did an amazing job at creating such likeable characters. Overall, this book is a winner and a fun ride!
Book Review: The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen by Syrie …
I received a copy of The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen by Syrie James in exchange for an honest review.
The book begins as Samantha McDonough stumbles upon a letter tucked away in an uncut page of a two-hundred-year old poetry book. She instantly recognizes the salutation, the handwriting, and the content as an old piece from the infamous Jane Austen. Although the discovery is quite amazing, Samantha finally reads the letter and the content is even better – it claims that there is a missing manuscript that went missing at Greenbriar. Samantha racks her brain and can’t believe what she has just found, so she takes it upon herself and goes on a hunt for the missing MS. Afterall, it could be worth millions. Will she find it? And will it be all that she imagined?
The second I received the review request for this book, I instantly knew that I was going to love it – and I was right! A book about a missing Jane Austen manuscript? I was hooked instantly. This book was written really well and I loved the mystery and the suspense element that the author provides. I was fully invested in the hunt right along with Samantha and was so excited to see how the story unfolded. Overall, this book is a really fun ride with a great twist once you throw Anthony into the mix. I highly recommend this fun tale!
Rating: 4.5 stars
Future Tour: When Girlfriends Make Choices by Savannah Page
Savannah will be on tour April 1-22 with her chick lit novel When Girlfriends Make Choices A novel about forbidden love, the choices you make,…
