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Blog Tour Sign Up: Unlocked by Rachael O’Bryan
CLP Blog Tours

Blog Tour Sign Up: Unlocked by Rachael O’Bryan

In Unlocked The main character Rebecca takes the reader on a journey through a collection of short stories concerning nine guys she met while being a tutor in college for the football team. She recounts her struggles with love, friendship, self-confidence, trust, acceptance, and heartache. The stories indicate how people and relationships can really shape a person’s life.

The story is told in first person and Rebecca introduces herself to the reader in the beginning by providing some background about herself. Delving into the actual stories, the first story of the book, “The Costly Answer” finds Rebecca wondering if her answer to one question asked by her crush cost her a chance at a relationship after she spots him a few years later in a different city. In the second story, “He Better Not Touch My Doughnuts,” she shares her experiences dealing with trust in a friendship. In the third story, “Big Brother (Sometimes),” Rebecca shares her love for her quasi-big brother, but also admits that she could never truly let go of any doubts surrounding their friendship. In the following story, “The Truth Does Set You Free,” Rebecca discusses her relationship with a guy she had a crush on for quite awhile until she finally gives their friendship an honest review. The next story, “A Necessary Goodbye,” discusses naturally letting a friendship go. That story is followed by “The Perfect Imperfect Person to Love,” where Rebecca shares her deep love and commitment to a friend she fell for and her struggle to let go. “The Best Player on the Team,” is a story about Rebecca’s friendship with one of the football players that she admired on and off the field. Next is the story, “Words Can Hurt,” which discusses the pain of being there for someone and then realizing he may never have appreciated her. And finally, “Good Guys Always Finish Last” is a story where Rebecca realizes that there are decent guys out there, and sometimes they get overlooked.

March 30, 2012
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The Bungalow by Sarah Jio
Chick Lit Review

The Bungalow by Sarah Jio

The Bungalow by Sarah Jio is a unique and fantastical piece of historical chick-lit that is truly one-of-a-kind. With the world in chaos around her and the country at war, twenty-one year old, Anne Calloway, questions her future as the bride-to-be of a man that she has known her whole life and wonders if this is all life has in store for her. Having always taken the safe, logical route, Anne makes the decision of a lifetime and joins her best friend and enlists as a nurse, heading to Bora-Bora and embarking on a journey that will change her in more ways than one.

Shortly after arriving, Anne meets a fellow service man named Westry. Together, they work to repair an abandoned bungalow on the beach, and in doing so, their friendship blossoms into a romance. Then one night, they witness a shocking event that changes everything. With the crime lingering overhead, the timing couldn’t be worse as Anne’s tour is wrapping up and Westry is being redeployed. What will become of their love? Will Westry be able to find her once the war is over? Will the world ever go back to the way that Anne remembers? Only time will tell but I for one, loved being a part of the journey.

I absolutely adored The Bungalow. When I first picked up the book to read, I was quickly reminded of Sarah’s debut novel and how similar the two are, yet so very different. Sarah does a fantastic job at weaving together a historical backdrop, an enduring romance and a taste of mystery. I loved the progression from friendship to something more between Anne and Westry and I found myself leafing through the pages quickly to find out what would become of them. I was swept away by the visuals and descriptions that Sarah painted and found myself reading in fluid color as if I were there, right along with Anne on her journey. Overall, this book is an absolute GEM. I couldn’t put it down and read it in one sitting. This book is one of my new recommendations for an enchanting, enthralling summer-read. Kudos to you Sarah, you’ve done it again and have created yourself another winner!

[Rating 5/5]

March 29, 2012
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GIVEAWAY: Momnesia by Lori Verni-Fogarsi
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GIVEAWAY: Momnesia by Lori Verni-Fogarsi

She’s smart, pretty, and runs her own business. So then why does she feel so dead inside? Between work, two kids, and a husband who finds her about as exciting as furniture shopping, this is the story of a (formerly-exciting but now way-too-typical) suburban mom who diagnoses herself with Momnesia and sets about finessing a new version of her old vivaciousness:
Momnesia (mahm-nee-zhuh) -noun-
Loss of the memory of who you used to be. Caused by pregnancy, play dates, and trying to keep the house cleaner than the Joneses.
She finds some adventure pursing her own interests, and does make some new friends (including the battery operated variety), but still feels like nothing more than a caretaker.
In between dealing with her husband’s manic-depresssive behavior, drama with her friends, and some naughty Internet escapades, she ponders, Is it that I haven’t been myself? Or is it that I am being myself, but just different than I used to be?
It isn’t until she tosses the Invisible Rule Book altogether, that she discovers life–and love–have more to offer than she ever imagined!
With custom-painted cover art that perfectly epitomizes the struggle of finding balance between “momminess” and “sexiness,” Momnesia is a must read for anyone who has ever been a mother, had a mother, wanted to be a mother, judged a mother, or even just wondered about mothers. A great gift book, too!

I have one copy of Momnesia by Lori Verni-Fogarsi up for grabs! The winner can choose between a print or eBook, but print books will be limited to US/Canada residents only. The winner will be chosen on Saturday, March 31. To enter to win, please just leave a comment below. Thank you to Lori for sponsoring this giveaway!

March 29, 2012
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Guest Post by Lori Verni-Fogarsi
Chick Lit Authors

Guest Post by Lori Verni-Fogarsi

Chick Lit Plus
Guest Author Article

“The Nitty Gritty Process of Being an Author”
By Lori Verni-Fogarsi, author of “Momnesia”

What kind of a title is that? For heaven’s sake! It sounds as if being an author is nitty. And gritty! Which it both is and isn’t. The truth is, if your goal is to have strangers read your book and have it be successful, there is far more involved than the pleasure of writing.

Everywhere I go, I meet people that say, “You’re a published author? Omigod! I have a great idea for a novel but can’t get around to writing it!” (This is largely because everyone I come across gets a bookmark foisted on them.) My advice? Just write it. Don’t worry about what you’re going to do with it later. Get your story out of your head and into the computer.

They look at me dubiously. “But how am I going to get it published?” My answer? “If you don’t write it, it can never be published.”

The next step is to be a cruel and brutal monster against your own work. How many words is it? More than 90,000? It’s too long. When I first finished “Momnesia,” it was 130,000 words and rest assured, finding 40,000 words to cut was extremely painful, yet necessary. Along the way, I did my spelling and punctuation corrections, and formatting.

Moving on, it’s time to let someone else mess with your work. And I don’t mean your mother, sister, or husband—not even if they’re an editor. I mean an impartial professional who has no personal stake in your life. Who will tell you if something stinks and praise you if it sings. Who knows that Roller Blades is supposed to be capitalized, and is not afraid to tell you that almost ALL of your parentheses need to be removed. They will identify characters that need development, inconsistencies in the timeline, and redundancies that cause readers to glaze over. Pay them. It’s worth it.

Here is the point where I could easily launch into a series of additional articles: Whether to seek an agent or self-publish, unusual aspects to keep in mind for your book’s cover, the roles of additional professionals, the marketing you’ll have to do. How to make your book stand out as the professional, highly readable work that it is (as opposed to an unedited, too long thing that people may read once but will never recommend).

One of the most common questions people ask is, “How long did the process take?” “Momnesia” took me a year to write, a year to edit, and a year to launch. As of the writing of this article, its success is still to be measured (release date was 3/16/12 in paperback and Kindle). “Everything You Need to Know About House Training Puppies and Adult Dogs” took two years. It was published in 2005 and I still receive a decent royalty check every quarter.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these tips! I invite you to join me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/LoriTheAuthor), and find additional resources on my website, (www.LoriTheAuthor.com). Happy authoring!

P.S: This article was 868 words. Too long! See? I had to edit it to a length that people will have time to read—all 526 words of it! (Um, perhaps still a teeny bit too long.)

March 29, 2012
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Trashy Chic by Cathy Lubenski
Chick Lit Review

Trashy Chic by Cathy Lubenski

Bertie Mallowan loves to report the hard-hitting news. But when her job as a reporter has her off the hot stories and more into the “fluff” as talks of more lay-offs circulate, Bertie realizes that she needs a change. A break. Something. So two days after she interviews Robert Bellingham, the sleaze-ball money-maker turns up dead, and Bertie assigns herself to figuring out who killed him. It’s not quite that easy, as over the years Robert has made not only a lot of money, but just as many enemies. Could it be the wife? The kids? The gardener? Bertie makes it her mission to crack the case, and the payoff would be an insider’s story that would surely save her job at the newspaper. But will a second murder and an attack on Bertie scare her away from the Bellingham murder scoop?
Trashy Chic by Cathy Lubenski was a kooky mystery novel with a fun cast of characters. I could relate to Bertie when she frustrated about her job and then worried she might lose it all together. Bertie had a great sense of humor, especially when it came to making up lies to her editors. Her friends were fun to read about, particularly Kate who owns the dog kennel. The mystery had me thinking until the end, trying to figure out alongside Bertie who the killer was. I did have some troubles making a solid connection to the story. I was never really invested in the chapters or felt like I just had to get to the end. Maybe the characters were just a bit too off the wall for me, I’m really not sure. I did keep getting tripped up over Bertie’s age, she seemed to act a lot younger than she really was, and that kind of bothered me throughout the story. It was still a fun book to read but not a favorite of mine.
[Rating: 3]

March 28, 2012
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Future Tour: Finding Felicity by Monica Marlowe
CLP Blog Tours

Future Tour: Finding Felicity by Monica Marlowe

Monica will be on tour May 28-June 18 with her novel Finding Felicity When Madeline O’Connor learns that her estranged sister is gravely ill, she…

March 27, 2012
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Interview with Elizabeth Marx
Chick Lit Authors

Interview with Elizabeth Marx

Why did you want to write Binding Arbitration?
I was writing another novel, a historical fiction book, and I hit a wall where I didn’t know where to take the story next. I had just visited Indiana University for a baseball reunion weekend and an idea started to weave its way into my mind about a cutter, what they call townies on IU’s campus, and a big time jock. I started asking myself what would happen if they fell in love and he went to the big time and she was much more than a townie. Once I started writing the contemporary it flowed very smoothly, probably because I felt I knew the characters and settings so well. I decided to put the other historical novel on the backburner, I’ve never finished it, but I went back to it recently and am thinking I’ll rework it into a fantasy trilogy.
What is the hardest part about writing for you?
Right now the hardest part is finding the time to write. I launched four books at about the same time, so I’m doing all I can to promote them. My website is also in the works and should launch this month and that’s a lot of work, finding the right images, making sure you have all the right content. Writing itself usually flows pretty well for me, if I get stuck its usually because I’m somewhere I don’t want to be in the story, in Binding at one point I stopped for two week because I just couldn’t bring myself to do something that I knew I had to do. Luckily, all my characters live in my head, or unluckily in this case because Cass kicked me and said, “You just gotta do it.” And I said, “I’ve gotta do it, got it.”
What is the most rewarding part of being published?
Recently someone reviewed Binding Arbitration and in her review she said she had a very special connection to it. When I emailed her, she told me her personal story which paralleled Libby’s journey in some respects and she told me how touched she was by the story. Most of my reviews say they laughed and they cried reading this book, which means to me as author that I succeeded in getting you to know Aidan and Libby, because would you cry over a perfect stranger’s story? It might make you sad but you wouldn’t want to cry. I guess what I’m saying is I like knowing I can touch you with my words.
Are you currently working on another novel?
I’m always working on a novel. The second book in the Chicago series, which doesn’t have a title yet, is about an interior designer and a race car driver. They both come from prestigious backgrounds, but one of them gave a baby up for adoption and the other one was given up for adoption. Both of them have preconceived ideas about the other and they love to rub checkered flags in each other’s faces, the problem is that a checkered flag means caution, and these two don’t catch on until they’ve passed the finish line. It features a magical black cat; Santana is willing to sacrifice its nine lives to keep them together. I’m about four chapters into the book.
I have a paranormal romance that’s almost complete, it’s about a vampire who has been yearning for something for 600 years—it’s not blood that Sebastian Pearce wants more than anything the human world has to offer—the House of Imperials needs a breeder.
Do you have a writing routine you try to stick too?
I’m trying to develop a new routine where I write a few days a week all day and then do marketing a few days a week all day. So far I haven’t gotten a lot written other than guest posts and interviews, but once my web site goes up I hope to go to the back and forth routine.
How important do you think blogs and/or social media are to authors?
I think blogs are very important, especially to Indie authors. They give authors a platform where they can display their work. Unfortunately, the time of the bookstore is rapidly coming to an end. I don’t relish the day, because I love hanging out in bookstores and libraries but authors will need places to promote their books and blogs and social media are the place to accomplish this.
What is your advice for aspiring writers?
I believe that authors are born not made. I think it’s a talent, and like any other talent, the more you practice it the better you will become. I believe a good education supports your talent. Then an author needs lots of life experiences. I think a good writer is naturally curious about many things and very observant, they have the ability to arrange disjointed ideas into stories and make them believable to readers.

Samantha, thanks so much for taking the time to interview me, it was a pleasure.
Elizabeth Marx
http://www.elizabethmarxbooks.com

March 27, 2012
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Blog Tour Sign Up: BaSatai Outside In by Suzan Battah
CLP Blog Tours

Blog Tour Sign Up: BaSatai Outside In by Suzan Battah

Seventeen year old, Armani Radnelaq a full blooded BaSatai is plagued by a curse in her blood. A curse created from hate and designed to break the divide between two parallel worlds of Earth and H-trae when Armani’s blood is spilled in attack and she dies.

S’teuqoubs have been travelling back and forth across the divide for centuries without trouble. The BaSatai and Guardians monitoring activity and enforcing rules to ensure peace and harmony but if the divide splits and opens, a much greater number of supernatural S’teuqoubs will filter into earth destroying equilibrium which the BaSatai and Guardians will be unable to control. Humanity and the BaSatai will suffer and perish. The parallel divide must remain secure at all costs.

Armani has remained hidden on earth with her adopted father Elijah since her birth. She has been raised in the human way and fights her natural instinct to evolve into a BaSatai. The BaSatai in her requires her to evovle and shift, use her powers and strength. Yet Armani is freaked out by the need to shift. She smokes, has a bad attitude, must deal with aggressive bullies and control her natural BaSatai instinct. Her Guardian with BaSatai Warriors are coming for her. She refuses to accept her fate and doesn’t believe any BaSatai should die to protect her.

The blood curse maturing in her veins makes her a target for her enemies. Her Guardian Karhl and an elite BasSatai Warrior Rafael are the first to arrive and prepare her for her crossing over. Her attraction to Rafael complicates her purpose to stay on earth even more. They both insist she fall into line and follow their lead but she is not ready to leave earth just yet…

March 26, 2012
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GIVEAWAY: The Book of Lost Fragrances by M.J. Rose
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GIVEAWAY: The Book of Lost Fragrances by M.J. Rose

A sweeping and suspenseful tale of secrets, intrigue, and lovers separated by time, all connected through the mystical qualities of a perfume created in the days of Cleopatra–and lost for 2,000 years.

Jac L’Etoile has always been haunted by the past, her memories infused with the exotic scents that she grew up surrounded by as the heir to a storied French perfume company. In order to flee the pain of those remembrances–and of her mother’s suicide–she moved to America. Now, fourteen years later she and her brother have inherited the company along with it’s financial problems. But when Robbie hints at an earth-shattering discovery in the family archives and then suddenly goes missing–leaving a dead body in his wake–Jac is plunged into a world she thought she’d left behind.

Back in Paris to investigate her brother’s disappearance, Jac becomes haunted by the legend the House of L’Etoile has been espousing since 1799. Is there a scent that can unlock the mystery of reincarnation – or is it just another dream infused perfume?

The Book of Lost Fragrances fuses history, passion, and suspense, moving from Cleopatra’s Egypt and the terrors of revolutionary France to Tibet’s battle with China and the glamour of modern-day Paris. Jac’s quest for the ancient perfume someone is willing to kill for becomes the key to understanding her own troubled past.
In celebration of publication, chicklitplus.com is offering one sample of perfume, Ames Soeurs, available as a tie in with the book. Please leave a comment below if interested. and we will draw a winner at random. Contests ends at 9:00PM (central time) March 28th.

March 26, 2012
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