My First 5K: Week 6: Shin Splints
This week started Week 6 out 15 for my 5K training. And along with it came – shin splits. Ouch! I actually had no idea…
In My Mailbox: Week of July 22
In Samantha’s Mailbox:
Title: Sex, Lies & Hot Tubs
Author: Elissa Ambrose
Received: Via CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: If a woman tries to preserve a marriage that has been damaged by infidelity, is she heroic or is she delusional? How many times does her husband have to cheat before she calls it quits? How many times does he have to get caught?
Meet Ellen Dunwell, doting wife, loving mother, high school teacher extaordinaire. She’s worried that her husband, the respected Dr. Jeffrey Dunwell, wonderful father, great lover, is having another affair. As if that’s not bad enough, her friends don’t understand her, her neighbor’s son is a Peeping Tom, and her angst-ridden teenage daughter is stashing pot in her room and dating a control freak. When Jeffrey suddenly disappears, Ellen nearly slips over the edge. Instead, she pulls herself together and sets out on a mission to find him—only to get caught up in a web of intrigue and danger, where nothing is as it seems and the stakes are her life.
Title: Pillow Stalk
Author: Diane Vallere
Received: From Diane Vallere
Synopsis: Interior Decorator Madison Night has modeled her life after Doris Day’s character in Pillow Talk, but when a killer targets women dressed like the bubbly actress, Madison’s signature sixties style places her in the middle of a homicide investigation. The local detective connects the new crimes to a twenty-year old cold case, and Madison’s long-trusted contractor emerges as the leading suspect. As the body count piles up like a stack of plush pillows, Madison uncovers a Soviet spy, a campaign to destroy all Doris Day movies, and six minutes of film that will change her life forever.
Title: Can We Start Again?
Author: Shirley Benton
Received: From Shirley Benton
Synopsis: Is it ever too late for a second chance? Tammy and Alvin had mapped out their entire lives together, including a pre-parental plan – a list of everything they wanted to do as a couple before they had children. But no amount of planning could have anticipated the heartbreaking problems that lay ahead problems that shattered their once-perfect relationship and led to a traumatic break-up. Then, after years of trying to move on, Tammy’s world is turned upside down when Alvin comes back into her life asking for a second chance – with a difference. He proposes that they spend time together, doing the things they had once so eagerly planned, in a bid to remember why they felt they’d have children together some day, and ultimately recapture what they had. Still in love with Alvin, Tammy finds herself powerless to say no, even though their problems are still simmering in the background and threatening to boil over at any moment. Still, what they once had is surely worth trying to save. But can something that’s broken ever truly be whole again?
Title: In Need of Therapy
Author: Tracie Banister
Received: From Tracie Banister
Synopsis: Lending a sympathetic ear and dispensing sage words of advice is all part of the job for psychologist Pilar Alvarez, and she’s everything a good therapist should be: warm, compassionate, supportive. She listens, she cares, and she has all the answers, but how’s the woman everyone turns to in their hour of need supposed to cope when her own life starts to fall apart?
While working hard to make a success of her recently-opened practice in trendy South Beach, Pilar must also find time to cater to the demands of her boisterous Cuban family, which includes younger sister Izzy, an unemployed, navel-pierced wild child who can’t stay out of trouble, and their mother, a beauty queen turned drama queen who’s equally obsessed with her fading looks and getting Pilar married before it’s “too late.” Although she’d like to oblige her mother and make a permanent love connection, Pilar’s romantic prospects look grim. Her cheating ex, who swears that he’s reformed, is stalking her. A hunky, but strictly off-limits, patient with bad-boy appeal and intimacy issues is making passes. And the sexy shrink in the suite across the hall has a gold band on his left ring finger.
When a series of personal and professional disasters lead Pilar into the arms of one of her unsuitable suitors, she’s left shaken, confused, and full of self-doubt. With time running out, she must make sense of her feelings and learn to trust herself again so that she can save her business, her family, and most importantly, her heart.
Title: A Girl Like You
Author: Maria Geraci
Received: From Lisa @ BookSparks PR
Synopsis: Every ugly duckling is a swan in waiting…
Emma Frazier is smart, hardworking, and loves her job as a journalist for a Florida lifestyle magazine. Emma knows she’s no great beauty, but she’s pretty certain she has a shot with her handsome new boss, Ben Gallagher—until Emma overhears a mutual acquaintance refer to her as the “ugly friend.” In an effort to reclaim her battered self-esteem, Emma decides to impress Ben at work by promising an exclusive interview with NASCAR legend, Trip Monroe.
Emma and Trip went to high school together and although it’s been fourteen years since they’ve spoken, Emma is certain she can score an interview with the elusive super star. But connecting with Trip turns out to be harder than Emma imagined. Her quest for the interview leads her back to her tiny hometown of Catfish Cove, where old secrets and a new romantic interest shake up Emma’s views on life and teach her that maybe the key to finding true love is as simple as accepting yourself for the person you were always meant to be.
In Sara’s Mailbox:
Title: Ruby
Author: Marie Maxwell
Received: Unsolicted
Synopsis: As a former evacuee, feisty Ruby is forced to fend for herself when she returns to her family in London. Set in the aftermath of WW2 and based in Southend, this gripping saga is richly evocative of the period. Special low price for a limited period to discover this new talent. Home is where the heart is… After having lived peacefully in Cambridgeshire as an evacuee, 15-year-old Ruby Blakeley is bought back to reality when her bully of a brother Ray comes to take her home to East London. Far from being welcomed back with open arms, Ruby finds herself being treated as a skivvy by her widowed mother and subject to a tirade of taunts from her two brothers. Things get worse when she becomes pregnant. Unable to tackle her family, Ruby runs away and makes a new start for herself in Southend. But she soon finds she can’t escape her past. A hard-hitting, gritty drama that will appeal to fans of Katie Flynn and Dilly Court.
Title: The Typewriter Girl
Author: Alison Atlee
Received: Unsolicited
Synopsis: In Victorian London, there’s only so far an unmarried woman can go, and Betsey Dobson has relied on her wits and cunning to take herself as far as she can—to a position as a typewriter girl. But still, Betsey yearns for something more…so when she’s offered a position as the excursions manager at a seaside resort, she knows this is her chance for security, for independence, for an identity forged by her own work and not a man’s opinion. Underqualified for the job and on the wrong side of the aristocratic resort owner, Betsey struggles to prove herself and looks to the one person who can support her new venture: Mr. Jones, the ambitious Welshman building the resort’s pleasure fair. As she and Mr. Jones grow ever closer, Betsey begins to dream that she might finally have found her place in the world—but when her past returns to haunt her, she must fight for what she’s worked so hard…or risk losing everything.
Title: Enchanting Lily
Author: Anjali Banerjee
Received: Alexandra @ Penguin Group
Synopsis: From the author of the “luminous [and] gorgeous” (Susan Wiggs) Haunting Jasmine comes a glorious new novel that reaches straight into to the heart to celebrate the resilience of the human spirit… “I wonder how my carefully planned life could have tipped so far out of balance?” Into the quaint town of Fairport on Shelter Island comes Lily Byrne, a young widow who is not so much running from the old but rather edging toward something new and indefinable. Here in the peaceful Pacific Northwest, newly engaged in her vintage clothing boutique, she hides from the world. But Lily knows that solitude can’t sustain her forever. Somehow, somewhere, something’s got to give. It does, with the unexpected arrival of an exuberant little cat. As Lily searches for the cat’s true home, she embarks on a journey just as unpredictable—one of healing and renewal that opens up a whole new world in this small island community she now calls home. Saved by the hidden graces of others, she even allows herself to fall in love again. But how much of this is serendipity? How much is destiny? As Lily starts looking at herself, and her life, in an enlightening new way, she can’t help but also wonder, how long can such good fortune last?
Blog Tour Sign Up: Lost in the Light by Mary …
DETECTIVE DORI ORIHUELA is on the verge of losing everything: her badge and now her sanity. Under investigation for a fatal shooting and recuperating from a bullet wound, she concentrates on restoring up her dream home – a 120 year-old Edwardian mansion. Expecting a few creaky stairs and drafty rooms, all of Dori’s beliefs on life and death are challenged when she not only sees a ghost, but he asks her to find a woman named, Anna.
The ghost and former bootlegger, Vicente Sorolla is trapped in the house where he was brutally murdered in the fall of 1932. By discovering what happened to the woman he loved and died to protect, both Vicente and Dori learn the undying power of love.
Dori and Vicente’s unlikely friendship takes us back to the waning days of Prohibition in San Diego and the dusty barrio of National City. Mary Castillo’s new novel, featuring the wild Orihuela family that first delighted readers in Names I Call My Sister, weaves romance, history and mystery into a humorous, touching and unforgettable story.
Beauty Review: NYX Eyeliner
Well, I messed up a while back when I visited my local Ulta. I had tried an eyeliner pencil of a girlfriend’s and LOVED the…
Future Tour: Don’t Let Me Go by Catherine Ryan …
Catherine will be on tour September 3-24 with her women’s fiction novel Don’t Let Me Go Former Broadway dancer and current agoraphobic Billy Shine has…
Inner Circle by Evelyn Lozada
I’m a big fan of sports, reality shows, and novels. So when I was asked to review Inner Circle, the first novel in The Wives Association series written by Evelyn Lozada, I was obviously sold. Lozada is currently married to NFL star Chad Ochocinco, and her books (co-authored by Courtney Parker) are loosely based on her knowledge of what it is like to be an athlete’s wife. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this book, but as someone who constantly says she is in love with men such Aaron Rodgers, Clay Matthews and Donald Driver (GB fan- can you tell?) I was curious to get the inside scoop on the ladies with these men we see on TV.
Well, I’ll say this – after reading Inner Circle, I don’t think I would ever want to date an athlete. They do not come across attractive (in the non-physical sense at least) in any way. It’s hard for me to think of men such as Drew Brees or Tom Brady treating their wives this way, but a disturbing pattern was to be found. Now to the story – the main character is Eve Inez, wife of Chase Landon, the super-star wide receiver for the Los Angeles Leopard’s. Eve is insistent on keeping her independence, which means sticking with her job as a sports agent and not letting her just be Mrs. Chase Landon. When her BFF Amber finds out her husband had an affair and knocked up their chef, Eve decides to form The Wives Association. Wives of famous athletes will band together to protect each other, should their men ever try to leave them and cut off their swanky lifestyle they have grown accustomed to. While Eve pours herself into protecting her friends, she doesn’t realize that her own best friend has been keeping a secret from her – one that will threaten Eve’s own marriage and happiness.
Overall, I really did enjoy Inner Circle. I’ve been browsing through some reviews on Amazon, and there were many that disliked the book and were pretty vocal about it. I liked the behind the scenes look, even if it did make me a bit scared of athletes now. I thought the writing was good, a little slow and repetitive at times, but I thought it was juicy enough to make me okay with those lows. There was a bit too much “beating bitch’s asses” for my like, that got old really fast to me. But the ending really had me on my toes, and I sped through the last few chapters at lightning speed. I loved the cliff-hanger ending! It made me definitely interested in reading the second book. If you are a sports fan or know Lozada from reality TV, I think this one should be on your list. I will say there is a lot of what some are calling “hood language” and a handful of extremely explicit sex scenes sprinkled throughout. Looking forward to this series!
[Rating: 4]
Paula Takes a Risk by Randi M. Sherman
Randi M. Sherman is currently on tour with CLP Blog Tours and Paula Takes a Risk. MC Paula Tenenbaum is thirty-four, newly single and newly…
Malena Lott on Summer and Creativity
On Summer and Creativity
by Malena Lott
Each season has its strengths, gifts supplied not only to nature and mankind, but to our outlook on the world around us. Personally, I’m a spring/fall fangirl, but I relish the dark winter nights, curled up by a fire; and summer, with its longer days and sweaty evenings on the deck, watching fireflies flit in the creek as I marvel at the chorus of night sounds growing louder as the sun goes down and my beer bottle empties.
Summer is about imagination and play. It’s the season of vacations and laughter, sunburns and splashing. Summer feeds the creative soul like a ripe watermelon to thirsty children. Morning pages come faster this time of year, so much so I can barely get it all down fast enough. My mind says, “more, more” when I think I have no more time to give, but of course there’s more time because summer days seem endless so I return to the screen again when the shade blankets the table just so or I sit cross legged after dinner with a notebook in hand to scribble the ideas that won’t let me be.
Creative writing isn’t so much about process or productivity as it is about permission to begin and to return to the page. Something “more important” always beckons – a hungry family, dirty laundry, “real” work that pays the bills. But to the creative writer, nothing feel more real than putting words on the page, first releasing them and then revisiting them and forming them into something bigger than they once were, building sentence to paragraph to scene to chapter to story to end.
You gave life to something that began as a blinking cursor. You shared a person’s hurt and healed them. You left something indelible on the hearts and minds of the reader that will last beyond the season. You are a writer.
Create.
Malena Lott s the author of three novels, The Stork Reality, Dating da Vinci and Fixer Upper; two novellas, Life’s a Beach and The Last Resort, several published short stories, including July’s “The Pool Boy,” and also writes young adult under the pen name Lena Brown. Readers can connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram under“malenalott” and she blogs about mojo and zen at malenalott.com.
Ship To Shore by Elizabeth Krall
Ship to Shore by Elizabeth Krall follows main characters Sally and Dermid, who meet on a ship while sailing across the Atlantic ocean. Sally is instantly drawn to Dermid and although they have a strong connection, their romance ends badly … and very quickly. But, there may still be hope for them as Sally accepts a job assignment on remote Scottish island nearby to where Dermid lives, although she insists that he isn’t the reason. But that quickly changes. Once Sally’s assignment is over, does she plan to stay in Scotland? Or will she return home?
Ship to Shore is a witty romance set against the North Atlantic as a backdrop, where two people must learn to trust their instincts and truly go for it in terms of love. At first they are both wary of truly committing to the other, but once they learn to trust their hearts, they are finally able to give in to one another. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I believe I finished it in a few days and thought about it while I wasn’t reading, constantly wondering what would happen to Sally and Dermid and if they would ever wind up together. Thankfully, the ending doesn’t disappoint (although it literally happens at the very last minute). I loved the scenic descriptions and you can tell that the author definitely did her research. All in all, a wonderful read and a great escape during the summer time.
[Rating: 4/4]
