On Tour: Living in Glass Houses by Zoe McNight
Zoe will be on tour October 15-29 with her novel Living in Glass Houses Living in Glass Houses is a contemporary story about three friends,…
Author Profile: Jane Green
Author Name: Jane Green
Website: http://www.janegreen.com/
Bio: British import Jane Green is the author of twelve bestselling novels, dealing with real women, real life, and all the things life throws at them, with her trademark wisdom, wit and warmth.
A former feature writer for the Daily Express in the UK, Green took a leap in faith when she left, in 1996, to freelance and work on a novel. Seven months later, there was a bidding war for her first book, Straight Talking, the saga of a single career girl looking for the right man. The novel was a hit in England, and Green was an overnight success.
The success got even sweeter when her second novel, Jemima J, became an international bestseller. Cosmopolitan called this cheerful, updated Cinderella story “the kind of novel you’ll gobble up in a single sitting.”
Now in her early forties, Green has graduated to more complex, character-driven novels that explore the concerns of real women’s lives, from marriage (The Other Woman) to motherhood Babyville) to midlife crises (Second Chance). The Beach House and Second Chance spent months on the New York Times Bestseller list.
As well as writing a daily blog: www.janegreen.com, she contributes to various publications, both online and print, including Huffington Post, The Sunday Times, Wowowow, and Self.
Most weekends see her cooking for a minimum of twenty people in her home in Westport, Connecticut, where she lives with her husband and their blended family. When she is not writing, cooking, filling her house with friends and looking after their animals, she is usually thanking the Lord for caffeine-filled energy drinks.
Titles: Another Piece of My Heart, Promises to Keep, Dune Road, The Beach House, Second Chance, Swapping Lives, The Other Woman, To Have and to Hold, Straight Talk, Babyville, Mr. Maybe, Jemima J, Bookends,
Bio retrieved from janegreen.com
To Be Honest by Polly Young
To Be Honest by Polly Young follows fifteen year old Lisi Reynolds. Like most teenagers, life can never be perfect. Her best friend Josh has a tumultuous love life, her mother is a shop-a-holic and the love of her life, the uber hot and swoon-worthy Chad doesn’t even know she exists … so she takes matters into her own hands and fibs. Albeit small, they are still fibs. So, what’s wrong with that? Well, that all changes when a rare moment presents itself and she finds herself living in another’s shoes. Life seems cool and better than she ever imagined in Miss Mint’s shoes. Why would she ever give it up? Well, only time will tell.
To Be Honest by Polly Young is a fun, youthful take a familiar story that is too much fun to resist. Polly does a fabulous job at creating a troubled (or she thinks, what youth doesn’t seem to be traumatized at fifteen?) and giving her the opportunity of a lifetime to swap places. I really enjoyed this story and found myself pulled in within the first couple of pages. I loved Lisi early on and found her story, and her dilemma, quite charming and wondered what I would have done if I had been presented with a similar situation at fifteen. Fortunately for everyone involved, I’ve never been given that chance, but this one is definitely an enchanting story and I absolutely adored the ending. I think you will too.
[Rating: 4.5/5]
Blog Tour Sign Up: The Green Ticket by Samantha March
College junior Alex Abrams scores her dream job at the ripe age of twenty – manager to a successful salon and spa. Thrilled to finally have a real adult job, Alex enthusiastically jumps into the world of schedules, conference calls, and getting a massage when interviewing prospective employees. What she doesn’t expect are the very grown-up issues that comes with a demanding boss. Kevin Dohlman quickly becomes Alex’s worse nightmare – covering up his affairs, dealing with his enormous ego, and trying to protect her female staff from him becomes a full-time job in its own right. Alex has also befriended Kevin’s wife and co-owner, Dani, and is trying to keep Kevin’s secrets hidden from her. The situation only worsens when Kevin starts paying Alex off to make sure she keeps her insider knowledge to herself.
While struggling to keep her wits and stay happy with her new grown-up job, Alex is juggling college courses, a new love interest, and keeping up with her close group of girlfriends. When her roommate and best friend Lila gets offered an opportunity to move to Los Angeles and sign with an agent, Alex realizes her life truly is changing, and everyone around her – including herself –– is growing up. Knowing she is faced with some hard decisions ahead, Alex struggles with keeping her job at Blissful. But does she really want to throw away what she dreamed of as a career – or will the secret-keeping for Kevin become too much to handle? The Green Ticket is a story about morals versus money, and how one young woman navigates the shaky line between the two.
Future Tour: Maven Fairy Godmother: Through the Veil by Charlotte …
Charlotte will be on tour December 17-31 with her novel Maven Fairy Godmother: Through the Veil Maven’s new dream job–fairy godmother–presents more problems than she…
My First 5K: Complete!
I did! My first 5K is complete 🙂 The Color Run was such a fun experience. There were 27,000 people registered in Des Moines, and the atmosphere just screamed party. It was a great way to ease into the running world! I ran with my girlfriend Holly, and we tried our best to look pretty ridiculous – as you can see from our picture! At the end, we were a mess! We ran through four color stations along the run, where people were having a great time throwing the paint on us, and then at the end once we finished we participated in a color throw. The paint wasn’t like what you paint a room with it, it was a more dust-like paint. Everyone who registered got a packet of the paint, and once you finished, you got to throw it in the air and have the colors rain down. Combined with thousands of people doing it at the same time – bananas. I literally lost my vision during the color throw, it was CRAZY!! But overall, a great experience, and I am definitely hooked. Holly and I are running another 5K in November (BRRRR!) and our award at the end – chocolate! The run is sponsored by a chocolate store in Des Moines, and proceeds go to the John Stoddard Cancer Center – a win/win there. I’ve had a lot of fun blogging about my first 5K experience, and I hope to share some more with you after my second race!
Blue Aspen by Tenaya Jayne
Tenaya Jayne is currently on tour with CLP Blog Tours and Blue Aspen. The first half of this book gripped me. We start by getting a quick snippet from a psych doctor and learn that she is reading the journal of a patient, then the story begins. The main character is seventeen year old Dulcee Elders, who gets dropped off at her uncle’s house after her mother decides she doesn’t want her anymore. It’s clear Dulcee has suffered some abuse, and lived in what I would guess to be a hostile environment. It’s at her uncle’s house that Dulcee starts having strange dreams, dreams where she is visited by a Vincent Sands. When her dream-world and reality collides, Dulcee and Vincent are inseparable. But when Dulcee’s uncle starts to wonder about her mental health, Dulcee is taken to psych hospital, and ripped away from Vincent. Only a drastic measure will bring the two together again.
There were parts I really enjoyed in this novel, particularly the beginning. I liked that we knew right off the bat that Dulcee was a psych patient; that really heightened the storyline for me. It was really interesting watching her get sucked into Vincent’s world. As the book continued on, I do wish we could have figured out a few more stories – such as the death of Dulcee’s dad or her uncle’s wife. The ending also had me a touch confused; I think maybe there was too many characters competing for a voice, and that was throwing me off. But if you are a fan of paranormal or fantasy type books, I think you would like this one!
[Rating: 3.5]
In My Mailbox: Week of October 7
In Samantha’s Mailbox:
Title: Enchanted by Starlight
Author: Tina L. Hook
Received: From BookSparks PR
Synopsis: Be careful what you wish for…Grace, Skylar and Alina are connected by destiny when an enchanted comet crosses the night sky. As their most secret ambitions ignite, their ordinary lives take a magical detour down a powerful but dangerous path.
Grace, emerging from her dejected childhood, develops the power to make men fall in love with her. Skylar leaves her impoverished past behind and pursues the social status she has always longed for. Without dreams of her own, Alina covets the power to unravel other lives and seeks revenge. As they crash into and slip away from each other in a cycle of envy, deception and love lost, these three women are forced to look deeper into their own hearts for the true meaning of enchantment.
Title: From Notting Hill With Love…Actually
Author: Ali McNamara
Received: From Sourcebooks
Synopsis: She was just a girl, standing in front of a boy …wishing he looked more like Hugh Grant. Scarlett loves the movies. But does she love sensible fiance David just as much? With a big white wedding on the horizon, Scarlett really should have decided by now …When she has the chance to house-sit in Notting Hill – the setting of one of her favourite movies – Scarlett jumps at the chance. But living life like a movie is trickier than it seems, especially when her new neighbour Sean is so irritating. And so irritatingly handsome, too. Scarlett soon finds herself starring in a romantic comedy of her very own: but who will end up as the leading man?
Title: Meant To Be
Author : Karen Stivali
Received: Via CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: Sometimes you’re already committed to the wrong person when fate finally brings you the right one.
When NYU professor Daniel Gardner’s career-obsessed wife convinces him to move to the suburbs, he hopes it’s a first step toward starting the family he longs to have. Instead of domestic bliss he finds his neighbor, Marienne Valeti. She loves her freelance design job, but must contend with a growing sense of isolation created by her husband’s indifference. A penchant for good books, bad movies, and Marienne’s to-die-for brownies sparks a powerful bond between them. Passion simmers, but they resist its lure, surrendering only in the seclusion of their minds. Their friendship helps them weather every hardship, from divorce to widowhood, leaving them both secretly wondering if it can survive a first kiss.
Author’s Note: Meant To Be is listed as Women’s Fiction with Strong Romantic Elements. It strongly crosses genres with contemporary romance and will appeal to many fans of romance novel—it is an atypical friends to lovers story with a strong romantic arc and a happily ever after ending. This book deals with adult issues and contains graphic/mature language and explicit sex scenes. If it were a movie, it would be rated R. Although I am also a published erotic romance writer, this book does not contain erotic content.
Title: Happily Ever Before
Authors: Aimee Pitta & Melissa Peterman
Received: From Aimee Pitta & Melissa Peterman
Synopsis: Two sisters, one drunken pact and a choice that changes their lives forever.
HAPPILY EVER BEFORE is best described as the comedic literary love child of the hit film’s Bridesmaids and Baby Mama. It is the story of two sisters, who while watching a Lifetime movie marathon (of course!) make a drunken pact that has more unconventional consequences than anything Lifetime could program.
HAPPILY EVER BEFORE, a fractured fairytale, tells the story of Grace, the free spirit older sister, who promises Clair, her wound-too-tight younger sister, that she’d have her baby, should the need ever arise. But she certainly never thought she’d have to “deliver”.
Now everyone, from Clair’s WASP-y in-laws to Diane, Grace and Clair’s mom, who has put her own life on hold, to Clair’s husband, Henry, who has a compulsive need to give Grace bizarre and overly personal pregnancy gifts, to George, Grace’s best friend who now needs to find a new drinking buddy, are dealing with situations they never dreamed of.
As the sisters are faced with hormonal surges, new romances, and a calcium enriched diet, they are forced to navigate this new family dynamic and test their sisterly love in ways that keep the reader laughing out loud.
Author Profile: Ellen Byerrum
Author Name: Ellen Byerrum Website: http://www.ellenbyerrum.com/ Bio: Ellen Byerrum writes the popular Crime of Fashion mysteries, set in bustling Washington, D.C., The City That Fashion…
