Kismetology by Jaimie Admans
I received a copy of Kismetology by Jaimie Admans in exchange for an honest review. Kismetology by Jaimie Admans starts off stating two truths: finding…
Blog Tour Sign Up: When Girlfriends Make Choices by Savannah …
A novel about forbidden love, the choices you make, and discovering what’s important in life.
Lara Kearns has it all. She has her MBA, a successful career in advertising in Seattle, and she’s even living with her best friend and single mom, Robin. Reliable, dedicated, and eager, Lara is the resident go-to-girl, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Lara’s that girl who has everything going for her…everything, that is, except for true love. With the big 3-0 on its way and no man in sight, Lara wonders if she’ll always be married to her career, or her cat, and never find the One.
But then, when she least expects it, a handsome and suave executive at her firm, Paul Mackenzie, makes a pass at her. Hesitant at first about striking up an office romance, Lara eventually finds herself falling for her charming colleague. And the best part? Paul is falling in love with Lara, too!
What happens, though, when the man of your dreams loves you…and his wife?
Battling with what the head and the heart want, Lara finds herself in a precarious situation. Life is spiraling out of control, but with the support of her therapist and friends, Lara must make a choice. Is she really prepared to chase after love…at all costs?
This is a provocative story about struggling between right and wrong. About what you will or won’t do for true love. About what happens when girlfriends make choices.
Blog Tour Sign Up: Nobody’s Damsel by E.M. …
Chloe and Jason are back in Albuquerque where Chloe’s just taken a job in the Albuquerque Police Department’s crime lab. Things are off to a rough start when the press follow her to her first crime scene, eager for a comment on the persistent rumor that Jason is cheating on her. When Chloe discovers that the crime is against a child roughly the same age she was when she became an assault victim, it’s more emotional baggage than she can bear, but to quit would be to give up on a little girl in desperate need of a rescue. Can Chloe face the paparazzi and step into the limelight to rescue a little damsel in distress, or has she bitten off more than she can chew?
Author Profile: Sarah Bridgeton
Author Name: Sarah Bridgeton Website: http://www.sarahbridgeton.com/ Bio: Sarah Bridgeton never thought she would become a novelist. She has always loved books, but in college she…
Book Review: Horse Play by Jo Carnegie
I received a copy of Horse Play by Jo Carnegie in exchange for an honest review. Summary: Churchminster village – picturesque, quaint, sleepy – or…
On Tour: The Darling Girls by Emma Burstall
Emma will be on tour January 7-28 with her novel The Darling Girls. Three women in love with the same man meet for the first…
In My Mailbox: Week of January 6
In Samantha’s Mailbox:
Brnig Me BackTitle: Bring Me Back
Author: Karen Booth
Received: Via CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: Music critic Claire Abby is a single mom dreading her daughter’s departure for college and worried that turning forty will leave her career running on fumes. She’s floored when she lands a Rolling Stone cover story on 80s British rock legend Christopher Penman. She spent her teenage years fantasizing he was her boyfriend.
In person, Christopher is everything Claire feared he’d be—charming, witty and unwilling to address the rumors he’s dodged for a decade. Still, she contains her adolescent fantasies and manages to earn his trust, unearthing the truth and the devastating secret behind it. His blockbuster story is her first priority when she returns home, a nearly impossible task when Christopher starts calling and flirting. She knows she should maintain a professional distance. She knows she should focus on the story. She knows it would be best to simply walk away. But how can she say “no” to the man she could never forget?
forever yearTitle: The Forever Year
Author: Lou Aronica
Received: Via Lou Aronica
Synopsis: Jesse Sienna doesn’t believe that love can last. His parents’ marriage was caring but passionless, and his own romantic history tells him that love can burn bright, but that it cannot burn for long. So when his elderly father, Mickey, moves in with him and seems unable to understand Jesse’s no-strings-attached relationship with Marina, his current girlfriend, Jesse barely pays attention. It’s just another example of how different they are – and more evidence that he and his father will never connect on any meaningful level.
But the truth is, Mickey Sienna knows more about love than most people learn in a lifetime. More than half a century ago, he discovered the endless rewards of investing your heart and soul in someone…and he knows the devastating costs of letting the perfect someone slip by.
When Mickey sees Jesse taking an extraordinary woman for granted, he decides it’s time to tell Jesse his story – a story he’s never shared with any of his children before. It is a story that will change both of them profoundly.
At once a stirring family drama and a touching romance, The Forever Year is filled with richly drawn characters and powerful situations. You will respond personally to the people you meet in this novel, and you will find yourself deeply enmeshed in their stories. And you might find yourself looking at love in a new way.
bella summerTitle: Bella Summer Takes a Chance
Author: Michele Gorman
Received: From Michele Gorman
Synopsis: When is enough not enough?
Bella’s career and relationship are her life’s foundationwear: not glamorous and perhaps a bit binding, but supportive enough… until she realizes that they are not enough. Her life is sagging badly. She’s never been in love with her boyfriend, despite a decade together. And somehow she stopped being a musician-with-a-day-job and became a consultant-who-was-musical. So she takes a terrifying leap of faith, leaving her relationship and resolving to follow her musical dreams no matter what.
But the life you walk away from doesn’t always let you walk away.
With a wonderfully warm and witty cast of friends, all navigating between their ideals and the realities they face, together they’ll find out what love and compromise really mean in this empowering tale about grasping life with both hands.
the good daughterTitle: The Good Daughter
Author: Jane Porter
Received: BookSparks PR
Synopsis: Love was given to all, except herself . . .
Kit Brennan has always been the most grounded of her sisters. A Catholic school English teacher for seventeen years and a constant giver, her decisions have been sound—just not very satisfying. Her fortieth birthday is right around the corner, causing Kit to consider some wilder notions, like skipping right past the love and marriage to raising a child all by herself . . .
A girls’ weekend away is just the reprieve Kit needs from school, Mr. Wrongs, and life-changing decisions. It’s there that she meets a man who’s dangerous; a man who challenges who she thought she was, or rather should be. Kit wants to indulge herself this once, but with one of her students in crisis and the weight of her family’s burdens weighing heavy on her heart, Kit isn’t sure if now is the time to let her own desires take flight . . .
When I fall in loveTitle: When I Fall in Love
Author: Miranda Dickinson
Received: Avon/ Unsolicited
Synopsis: The brand new release from the Sunday Times bestselling author that bought you Fairytale of New York and It Started With A Kiss.
What happens when your happy ever after is suddenly and painfully taken away from you?
Elsie Maynard has a whole new life she never expected to have.
From inadvertently founding a choir like no other with former 80s rock star Woody Jensen, to daring to date again, Elsie steps out into an unknown future – a future that could include gorgeous designer Olly Hogarth, a man who seems intent on winning her heart. Overcoming problems, challenges and the occasional frustration – namely overconfident Torin Stewart who seems to be everywhere – Elsie believes she is making the most of her life.
But then a heartfelt request brings her to Paris – and the last item on a very important List.
Can Elsie take the final step and lay her past to rest? Join Elsie as she battles to start again, with the help of a disastrous, newly-formed singing group and her father and sister armed with dating hopefuls.
In Sara’s Mailbox:
cursedTitle: Cursed
Author: Lynn Ricci
Received: Lynn Ricci
Synopsis: When Sarah Carter moves to Boston to escape her past she realizes there’s more than meets the eye with the landlord and her mysterious new best friend. What happened to the owner of this Boston brownstone and what secrets lie within its walls and continue to torment? And is she actually running back to her past instead of from it?
Playing AlongTitle: Playing Along
Author: Rory Green
Received: Rory Green
Synopsis: Two Lives. Two Continents. One Song…
Then: George Bryce was an awkward, English schoolboy fantasizing about being in a band.
Now: George is frontman of Thesis, an overnight indie scene sensation. Intense, creative and self-deprecating, his childhood dreams have all been fulfilled – so why does George still feel so lost?
Then: Lexi Jacobs was a confident Californian high school cheerleader, planning her future marriage and a meaningful career.
Now: Lexi is searching for substance in a life full of mishaps. Cautious, bemused and rapidly losing the control she used to rely on, none of her teenage dreams have delivered and she’s left wondering, “What next?”
Follow George and Lexi as they navigate their days thousands of miles apart. Fly with them from London to LA and back again, as George copes with the dynamics of his tight knit band and loose knit family, while Lexi juggles her eccentric new boss, bored best friend and smother mother.
Even though there’s an ocean between them and their worlds couldn’t be further apart, George and Lexi are pulled together through music, and their paths appear determined to cross.
The question is – when?
GIVEAWAY: After the Rain by Karen White
From “one of the best new writers on the scene today” (The Huffington Post) comes the sequel to Falling Home, a novel set in the picaresque town of Walton, Georgia, where one woman is about to discover that the best journey is the one that brings you home.…
Freelance photographer Suzanne Paris has been on her own since she was fourteen—and she has no intention of settling down, especially not in a tiny town like Walton, Georgia. She’s here to hide out for a little while, not to form connections. Her survival depends on her ability to slip in and out of people’s lives, on never staying in one place for too long.
But no one in Walton plans on making things easy for Suzanne. For one thing, it’s a town where everyone knows everyone else—and they all seem intent on making Suzanne feel right at home. For another, Suzanne can’t help but feel drawn to this tight-knit community—or to the town’s mayor, Joe Warner, and his six kids. But Suzanne can’t afford to stick around, even if she’s finally found a place where she belongs. Because someone is looking for her—someone who won’t stop until her life is destroyed…
I have one print copy of After the Rain by Karen White up for grabs! To enter, please just leave a comment below. The winner will be chosen on Tuesday, January 8. Please note this is open for US/Canada residents only. Thank you to Penguin Group for sponsoring this giveaway!
Book Review: Designer Dirty Laundry by Diane Vallere
I received a copy of Designer Dirty Laundry by Diane Vallere in exchange for an honest review.
Summary:
Samantha Kidd, ex-buyer turned Trend Specialist, designed her future with couture precision, but finding the Fashion Director’s corpse on day one leaves her hanging by a thread. When the killer fabricates evidence that puts the cops on her hemline, her new life begins to unravel. She trades high fashion for dirty laundry and reveals a cast of designers out for blood. Now this flatfoot in heels must keep pace with a diabolical designer before she gets marked down for murder.
Review:
Ah, a good chick lit mystery that involves lots of fun fashion – my kind of book! And I even share a name with the heroine – that has to be a good sign, right? 😉 Designer Dirty Laundry is a fast-paced book that kept me entertained with mystery, drama, fashion, and romance throughout. Samantha is such a fun heroine, a woman who stumbles upon a mystery when all she is trying to do is make a few changes in her life. The fashion and land of couture is a big focus in the book, and Vallere clearly has a background here and brings a lot of knowledge and fun behind-the-scenes tidbits for readers. A lot of fun to read and even better – a sequel that is burning a hole in my bookshelf!
[Rating: 4]
