Chick Lit Plus by Samantha March

Latest Youtube Videos

Confessions of a PTA Mafia Mom by Elsie Love
Chick Lit Review

Confessions of a PTA Mafia Mom by Elsie Love

Elsie Love is on tour with CLP Blog Tours and her novel Confessions of a PTA Mafia Mom. I never know why I’m wary to read a book where the main character is a mom, just because I’m not. I never love the characters any less, and usually feel like I learned a thing or two when it comes to parenting. So I’m not even going to say that I was wary to read Confessions, starring well, a mom, as the main character. Elaine Jackerson is having some issues. She practically walked in on her husband having sex with his young secretary, she overhears a phone conversation between her teenage daughter about experimenting sexually with boys in backseats, and her son is growing out of the I Love Mommy stage. Elaine feels a bit lost. She has been defined by being a wife and mother for so long, putting everything else aside, that she doesn’t know what to do know that her marriage is a sham and her children are growing up. On a whim, she decides to join the Herschel Grammar School PTA. All the moms look like grown-up Barbies, with their perfect hair, perfect outfits, swanky cars, and fancy houses. Elaine signs up, takes an oath….and the trouble begins.
Turns out, this is not just a regular PTA she now belongs to. It’s practically the mafia. Head honcho Suni Calverson leads the pack, and when Elaine lets it spill that her husband Bob is sleeping around, the PTA women promise to “take care” of Bob. Elaine doesn’t know what that means. Kill him? Kidnap him for awhile? Castrate him? When Suni sends Elaine off to Vegas so no fingers can point at her, Elaine gets a bad feeling she has stumbled into something very, very wrong. But before she can figure out how to get herself out of the jam, she’s laid up in Vegas, her children are kidnapped, and there’s a hunky young limo driver lying in her bed. Can Elaine take down the mafia of PTA moms, save her philandering husband, and her kidnapped children?
Confessions of a PTA Mafia Mom is downright hysterical. Chick lit lovers, put this on your list. You will laugh until your sides hurt- I know I did. Elaine’s character is so likeable, vulnerable, scared, and lonely, and she thinks she is meeting a true friend in Suni. There are a few fantastic twist and turns along the way, and the fast paced plot will keep you seeking out the end. I’m so glad Love decided to come on tour with me, because her book kept me thoroughly entertained, and I can’t wait to read more from her. This is a welcome addition to my Favorites List!
[Rating: 5]

August 3, 2011
4 Comments
Guest Post by Patricia Eimer
For Writers

Guest Post by Patricia Eimer

Chick Lit’s Not Dead Yet
There I said it. And somewhere, probably in New York or LA, a thousand editors, publicists and book buying people just felt a gigantic stabbing motion in their heart and a few may be experiencing headaches. Because I just said something we’re all supposed to believe is patently false. When I mentioned the name of this blog post two of my critique partners actually made that sucking sound over the phone that seemed to say “bad idea, don’t go there.” And that’s how I knew I’d hit upon the blog I wanted to write. Because you see, I live for that sound. I am like a bad idea chiropractor – I live for the noise. I need the noise. And because of my addiction to the noise I’m going to say it again. Louder this time.
CHICKLIT IS NOT DEAD!!!!!
Now, my proof. Pretty Little Liars, Emily Giffin and Ann Brashares are all sitting pretty on the USA Today’s Bestseller List. Katie MacAlister’s The Incredible Lightness of Dragons hit the list its first week in publication. MaryJanice Davidson’s Undead and Undermined did the same thing. And my publisher, Entangled Publishing, has two fabulous novels coming out (The What If Guy and Lucky Girl) that would both fit into the genre.
Now are they all traditional Carrie Bradshaw style characters straight out of a Candace Bushnell novel? No, of course not. But to say that Chick Lit is dead because of that would be the same as saying that Historical Romance novels are dead because we now rarely see the “rape the virgin till she loves you” trope being used. In fact you almost never see it in modern Historical Romances. Does that mean Historical Romance is dead? Hardly.
Is the age of reading a book for a glimpse at the extravagant lives of Candace Bushnell or Plum Sykes characters over? Maybe. Is that because women aren’t reading? Or because they suddenly don’t want to read strong, independent, modern women who might be looking for love but can take care of themselves thank-you-very-much? Nope.
I think, and this is all just my opinion as 1.) a Reader 2.) A Woman and 3.) An Economist that it’s not that women don’t want to read or they don’t want to read the strong, independent women personified in Chick Lit. My opinion is that it’s very hard to identify with traditional Chick Lit girls in the postmodern age. A Bergdorf Blonde’s concerns over whether or not she can make it for her 30 day touch up seems a bit silly in the age of 9.6% unemployment and the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
But while I proudly declare that Chick Lit isn’t dead I will concede that it has evolved and grown, like everything (including readers) always do. Do readers want a book that fixates on Manolo Blahniks and Balenciaga? Nope. But that doesn’t stop us from giggling over Betsey the Vampire Queen being a bit peeved off to see her “power shoes” on the Devil’s feet. It’s just that in the modern age we, and Betsey, have bigger fish to fry.
So if you call it Chick Lit, Contemporary Women’s Fiction, Paranormal romance with Comedic Elements, Contemporary Fiction with Romantic Elements, or whatever NY has declared the “in” term for books with strong, modern heroines who can save themselves it doesn’t matter. At heart they’re all the same and women still want to read them. The only difference between the “Age of Chick Lit” and now? We’ve all grown up a little bit and learned to clip coupons.
Which, speaking of coupons, Off 5th Avenue just sent me a pretty good one. And there are a pair of Beverly Feldman’s that have just fell into my price range. Little black lace booties? You will be mine. Oh yes. You will be mine.

August 2, 2011
6 Comments
She Makes it Look Easy by Marybeth Whalen
Chick Lit Review

She Makes it Look Easy by Marybeth Whalen

Ariel Baxter feels everything is falling into place. She and her husband have a new house in a beautiful, well to do neighborhood, and her photography business is on its way up. But with her husband constantly working, her kids driving her a little crazy, and the domestic life not all she thought it would be, Ariel starts to question if they made the right decision moving away from their friendly neighborhood. But when Justine Miller, all-star mother, housewife, and neighbor, befriends Ariel, she is immediately drawn into her world of perfect. Justine never seems flustered, has a hair out of place, makes her own healthy meals, and organizes neighborhood activities. Ariel decides she wants to be just like Justine, but no matter how hard she tries, she can’t seem to find the time or organization to follow the footsteps of her neighbor. But life isn’t always as it seems. Justine is hiding many secrets from her new friend, an affair being the biggest of them all, and Justine’s perfect world is slowly crumbling. Will Ariel figure out she is being deceived by her new friend? And will she be able to appreciate what she does, or constantly trying to be someone she is not?
I really enjoyed reading She Makes it Look Easy by Marybeth Whalen. The plot is pretty simple: have you ever looked at a friend, a neighbor, a co-worker, and wanted their life? Thought they had it so much better than you? This is what Ariel does to Justine, puts her on a pedestal and tries to change so she is just like her. But with all the problems Justine is hiding from Ariel and the rest of her friends, Justine’s life is anything but perfect. Money problems, marital issues, the affair, are all threatening to disrupt the picture perfect image Justine has worked so hard to uphold. The story felt very real to me, especially when Ariel goes against her better judgment and starts to shun another fellow neighbor, simply because Justine said to. I thought the prologue to the story was very interesting, and I had to go back and re-read it one more time after I finished the story. I just wish there had been a little more at the end that explained what happened to Justine, but the prologue helps me draw my own conclusion. I guess this is noted as a Christian novel, and while there were a few sections that talked about church and faith, I really wasn’t overwhelmed or felt that Whalen was trying to force religion upon me, which I know can happen sometimes with religious-orientated books. I am giving this book five stars, for the intricate plot, phenomenal writing and character development, and for tackling a subject that so many woman can connect with. Get She Makes it Look Easy on your to-read list!
[Rating: 5]

August 1, 2011
7 Comments
In My Mailbox: Week of July 31
Updates

In My Mailbox: Week of July 31

In My Mailbox: Week of July 31, 2011

Title: Rock Star’s Girl
Author: JF Kristin
Received: From JF Kristin for CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: Emily Watts just wants a weekend break from the workaholic hours she’s taken on to keep her business – a popular fashion-snark web site – up and running. What she gets is overnight celebrity and a career-killing media scandal.

While taking time out to attend a concert in support of friend Jesse Cinder, a struggling musician, Emily meets Cory Sampson, the lead singer of a chart-topping rock band. When she agrees to a date with Cory, making entertainment headlines is the last thing she expects. Even so, it’s a minor surprise by comparison to her discovery that in the music world, media notoriety trumps all. Tabloid allegations erupt when Cory and fame-hungry Jesse use Emily for personal gain, and her tarnished image spells disaster – personally and professionally. To save the web site and writing career she’s made her life and dream, Emily must go from being a pawn in the Hollywood headline game to becoming the media mastermind.

Title: Happy Birthday
Author: Danielle Steel
Received: From Elizabeth @ Transworld Publishers
Synopsis: Valerie Wyatt is the queen of gracious living and the arbiter of taste with a successful TV show. Since her long-ago divorce, she’s worked hard to reach the pinnacle of her profession and to create a camera-ready life in her Fifth Avenue penthouse. So why is she so depressed? All the hours with her personal trainer, the careful work of New York’s best hairdressers, cosmetic surgeons, and her own God-given bone structure and great looks can’t fudge the truth or her lies about it: Valerie is turning sixty. Valerie’s daughter, April, has no love life, no rest, and no prospect of that changing in the foreseeable future. Her popular one-of-a-kind restaurant in downtown New York, where she is chef and owner, consumes every ounce of her attention and energy. Ready or not, though, April’s life is about to change, in a tumultuous transformation that begins the morning it hits her: She’s thirty. And what does she have to show for it? A restaurant, no man, no kids. Jack Adams once threw a football like a guided missile. Twelve years after retiring from the NFL, he is the most charismatic sports analyst on TV, a man who has his pick of the most desirable twentysomething women. But after a particularly memorable Halloween party, Jack wakes up on his fiftieth birthday, his back thrown out of whack, feeling every year his age. A terrifying act of violence, an out-of-the-blue blessing, and two extremely unlikely love affairs soon turn lives inside out and upside down. In a novel brimming with warmth and insight, beginning on one birthday and ending on another, Valerie, April, and Jack discover that life itself can be a celebration — and that its greatest gifts are always a surprise.

Title: Red Hot Liberty
Author: Devin O’Branagan
Received: From Devin O’Branagan
Synopsis: Molly O’Malley’s new assistant, Robin Knight, is a sexy Englishman with mysterious psychic abilities and the gift of animal communication. This comes in handy when Molly’s dog becomes depressed over romantic problems, and when she wants to tell her humans the details of a haunted dog show event known as The Twilight Bone Incident.

Robin’s mission is to help Molly learn that it is an enchanted world where all things are possible. However, the men in Molly’s life are threatened by his powerful presence and pressure her into making difficult choices.

Further complicating her life is new client, Liberty True—a tin-foil-hat-wearing, conspiracy-theory-believing, rebel patriot—who invites Molly to a different kind of tea party and drags her, kicking and screaming, into the revolution. Soon, Homeland Security is following Molly and she receives death threats.

Coming to her aid? A Goth colleague who lives on the dark side, a charismatic cowboy preacher who lives on the light side, a quirky psychic who lives between the worlds, and the departed spirit of her best friend.

A sassy tale about a woman on the verge of losing everything, who undertakes a quest to slay the dragon of fear and become her own hero.

August 1, 2011
Leave a comment
On Tour: Blow Me by Lennie Ross
CLP Blog Tours

On Tour: Blow Me by Lennie Ross

Blow Me is the story of three single women—each close to forty and living a life they have long outgrown. Aware that the women’s magazines of their youth sold them a false bill of goods about having it all—the amazing career, the baby, the house, the husband—each woman is desperate to achieve some sense of stability. Skylar, a hairdresser/executive assistant who lost her job and burned down her apartment after a fondue party, is living out of her car; Chloe, a struggling actress/real estate agent with a French Canadian accent who has never sold a house and doesn’t have her SAG card, struggles to get a Green Card; and Dawn, an MBA-educated dating matchmaker, is hedging her bets against the ticking clock by freezing embryos. Their lives are in chaos and their only hope is to be rescued through marriage or by a Hairy Godfather. Situated in the shallow world of Los Angeles, this provocative novel in the style of Sex and the City provides a humorous look at aging, dating, and being single in the new millennium.

July 31, 2011
2 Comments
GIVEAWAY: The Whole Package by Cynthia Ellingsen
Updates

GIVEAWAY: The Whole Package by Cynthia Ellingsen

Life has thrown childhood friends Jackie, Cheryl, and Doris a few curveballs. Widowed and broke, Jackie returns home from an extravagant life in Paris, Doris is reliant on anti-depressants, and Cheryl’s plans for a corporate take-over are replaced with walking papers. But after a drunken night sampling the delights at strip club for women, the ladies stumble upon a genius idea and decide to open up The Whole Package—the world’s first restaurant staffed exclusively by very attractive men. Armed with Jackie’s connections, Doris’ ambition, and Cheryl’s business sense, the ladies set out to make their mark in the world.

With THE WHOLE PACKAGE, Ellingsen effortlessly depicts the many dynamics of friendship and the resilient bond of women and friends who manage to work through hardship and have an outrageous amount of fun.

I have one print copy of The Whole Package by Cynthia Ellingsen for giveaway! To enter, please leave a comment below. The winner will be chosen on Friday, August 5th. Please note this is open to US/Canada residents only. Thank you to Erin with The Penguin Group for sponsoring this giveaway!

July 31, 2011
22 Comments
Dancing on Glass by Pamela Binnings Ewen
Chick Lit Review

Dancing on Glass by Pamela Binnings Ewen

Amalise Catoir is a young law student living in New Orleans in 1974. Growing up in a close knit, religious family, Amalise is somewhat naïve and a bit too trusting for the big city. While away from home, she meets Phillip Sharp, an artist, and is immediately taken by him. He is confident, a bit quiet, and charming, and when he asks Amalise to pose for a portrait for him, she agrees. During their sessions together, Amalise starts to fall for Phillip, despite his possessiveness and sometimes odd behavior. Amalise starts missing classes, her grades begin to slip, but she is in love with Phillip. When he tells her about his awful childhood and distant parents, she believes she was meant to help him, to provide him with the love and comfort that he never had. But her once safe world turns suddenly dangerous, as Phillip turns abusive, destructive, and tears Amalise away from her work, friends, and family. Can Amalise somehow escape Phillip, or will her choice to love become fatal?
Dancing on Glass by Pamela Binnings Ewen is a story that will make you hold your breath while you flip the pages. The story surrounding Amalise and Phillip will suck you in, and the exquisite writing and detail of New Orleans will make you feel as though you are there with the characters. It was difficult to read about abuse, especially when Phillip was obviously bad news from the beginning. Even without reading the synopsis, you know he is a violent man. It was hard for me to see why Amalise was drawn to him in the first place. She is portrayed as a very naïve girl, who could walk in a dark alley at night and not think anyone would attack her, but it was still a little tough to believe. And the ending made me positively want to scream at this girl- no spoiler’s here- but possibly that is what the author wants us to take away from the story? She certainly made me feel and brought up a lot of emotions while reading. I did enjoy the side story regarding Amalise’s career as a lawyer- which was very different for women back in the 70’s. Overall, I did enjoy the book and thought it was beautifully written, but it was tough to swallow some of the main plot points. I would still recommend it if you are looking for a deeper read, and be sure you can handle tough scenes with physical abuse.
[Rating: 3.5]

July 29, 2011
Leave a comment
Future Tour: Rock Star’s Girl by JF Kristin
CLP Blog Tours

Future Tour: Rock Star’s Girl by JF Kristin

Emily Watts just wants a weekend break from the workaholic hours she’s taken on to keep her business, a popular fashion-snark web site, up and running. What she gets is overnight celebrity and a career-killing media scandal.

While taking time out to attend a concert in support of friend Jesse Cinder, a struggling musician, Emily meets Cory Sampson, the lead singer of a chart-topping rock band. When she agrees to a date with Cory, making entertainment headlines is the last thing she expects. Even so, it’s a minor surprise by comparison to her discovery that in the music world, media notoriety trumps all. Tabloid allegations erupt when Cory and fame-hungry Jesse use Emily for personal gain, and her tarnished image spells disaster — personally and professionally. To save the web site and writing career she’s made her life and dream, Emily must go from being a pawn in the Hollywood headline game, to becoming the media mastermind.

July 28, 2011
Leave a comment
Disturbing: Rape Kit Backlog
Chick Lit Plus

Disturbing: Rape Kit Backlog

While reading through April’s edition of Cosmopolitan magazine, I came across an article that dealt with a very uncomfortable and heartbreaking topic- rape. But the article wasn’t discussing how uncomfortable or heartbreaking rape can be to a person, but instead what happens after the crime is committed- and it was shocking. As a victim of sexual abuse myself, I know all about rape kits and the physical evidence police need off your body once you come forward. I was young at the time, but I remember the doctor scouring my entire body and feeling like I was some sort of science project. Once the evidence was sent it, it was matched to my attacker- which was a person I knew and could identify. But not all cases are so tidy. There are many instances where woman are attacked in parking lots, while jogging, or even in the library- having no idea who their attacker is or how to identify them. So they compile a rape kit- or a Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence (SAFE) kit. Doctors can collect DNA off the victim’s body (hair, bodily fluids, etc.) and test it to see if they can find any matches. Cosmo uncovered an unsettling fact about these rape kits- that an extreme number of kits have gone untested nationwide for more than a decade. How can this be happening? Victims suffer through the abuse, then through coming forward, telling their story, and being subjected to a rape kit, all for nothing. The answer boils down to money. Cosmo reports that the testing of a rape kit can cost anywhere between $1000-$1500, so there are too many cases where the rape kits never make it out of the police station or never get tested at a forensic lab.
I find this to be devastating news. The point of a SAFE kit is to help the victim- to hopefully find the perpetrator and get justice for their crimes. And to keep these criminals off the streets, where they could attack again- rape is more of a serial crime than just a onetime occurrence. Cosmo does say that Congress had been giving funds to police departments since 2000 to try to help pay for testing, but the backlog is still accumulating. So what can we do to help? Visit endthebacklog.org to learn how you can help. This is a great website that was created by Joyful Heart Foundation. You can make a donation through the website, learn how to contact state legislators, and help spread the word. Rape kit testing needs to be a priority.

July 28, 2011
5 Comments