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Fourteen Days Later by Sibel Hodge

Helen Grey finds it easier to hide hermit-style after she finds out her boyfriend has been cheating on her. Rather than face the world and all the other cheating males out there, she hides inside and focuses on eating rather than diving into the dating pool. Her best friend, Ayshe, comes up with a fourteen day challenge to boost Helen’s confidence that Helen agrees to try, but doesn’t enjoy the activities such as speed dating and dog walking. All the while, Helen grows closer to Ayshe’s brother Kalem, but knows she can do nothing about her feelings. Kalem has a drop dead girlfriend in the picture, and Helen can’t risk her friendship with Ayshe over a boy. But as the challenge continues, Helen starts to notice changes in her life, and wonders if a fourteen days lifestyle challenge really could work.
Fourteen Days Later is the debut novel from author Sibel Hodge, and while I like the concept behind the story, I didn’t like the story a whole lot. Helen is your typical accident prone heroine, but with some crazy thing happening to her consistently throughout the fourteen days, it starts to become a bit unbelievable after awhile. And within the first chapter I figured out that Helen and Kalem would develop a “thing” but Helen didn’t figure it out until the last couple chapters, which made everything in between seem a bit pointless. The drama and buildup just wasn’t there. I felt the plot was too over the top yet slow at the same time. There were definitely some funny moments where I had to laugh out loud, but this is definitely not a favorite of mine. Perhaps Hodge’s second attempt, The Fashion Police, will fare better.
Rating: 2/5

Debut Author Spotlight: Jesi Lea Ryan

Debut Author: Jesi Lea Ryan
Debut Novel: Four Thousand Miles

Jesi and I connected through the great land of Twitter, and she offered to send me a copy of her debut novel, Four Thousand Miles. I gratefully accepted, another book to read and another new author to meet, and Jesi agreed to do a Q&A session with me. After checking out her blog, http://diaryofabibliophile-jesilea.blogspot.com/, I found out we are from the same hometown of Dubuque, Iowa- we even went to the same high school, just during separate years. What a small world! Jesi was really inspiring to chat with, and gave some great insight on why she decided to begin her journey as a writer without an agent. She works with a fabulous publishing company, DCL Publications, and is steadily writing her second novel- which I can’t wait for! Four Thousand Miles was a terrific story filled with romance, uncertainty, and my favorite part- travel! Read a clip of my review:

“Natalie was a terrific heroine, and I supported her when she boarded that plane to London. There were real people with real problems going through the motions and figuring out their lives. And I love that! I think Jesi Lea Ryan did an outstanding job in Four Thousand Miles, and I hope she has more for us soon.”

So please check out Jesi Lea Ryan by checking out her blog or follow her on Facebook or Twitter. You can find your copy of Four Thousand Miles at DCL Publications.

Guest Post by Author Lou Aronica

Back in the mid-seventies, Elvin Bishop released the now-classic hit “Fooled Around And Fell In Love.” Since I wasn’t in the publishing business (or any business, for that matter) in the mid-seventies, I assume Bishop had something else in mind (I don’t know, perhaps romantic love?) when he penned this tune. However, the title adequately sums up my experience with the business side of the book world.

When I graduated college, I intended to get a job as a high school teacher. However, the economy was dreadful, school budgets were especially bad, and there were no teaching jobs to be had. As a fallback, I sent my resume to every book publisher in New York, and Bantam Books hired me. From the time I’d been a teenager, it had been my ambition to be a writer, so it seemed to make sense to work in a place that dealt with lots of writers. Still, I didn’t intend to stay in this field for long. My expectation was that I’d either get a teaching job eventually, or I’d start writing books. Either way, I assumed I was only going to be dabbling in the publishing biz.

But then I fooled around and fell in love. I was only weeks into my first position – a dreadful job that required me to cart cover materials from one executive’s office to another’s for approval in the days before the electronic conveyance of such materials – when some of those executives started talking to me. They’d ask my opinions of the covers, ask whether I’d read the book in question, and ask my thoughts about books in general, and I found these conversations far more interesting than I imagined they would be. My love for the business end of the industry started then. It ratcheted up several levels a few years later when I started editing books. Working directly with writers to help them craft their stories was the best kind of work I could imagine, as was doing everything I could do within the organization to make sure each writer had a high profile in the house.

At some point, I realized I wasn’t “fooling around” any longer. I was flat-out in love with the field and everything that came with it. Admittedly, some parts of the job were more appealing than others. Eating in four-star restaurants three or four times a week to court agents, for instance, or going to benefit film premieres. But even the budget meetings and paperwork had some appeal because the end product meant so much to me. I became so attached to this side of the business that it was twenty-four years before I published my own first book.

Ultimately, I decided that the daily commute to New York from my home in Connecticut was causing me to miss too much time with my family, and I embarked on a full-time writing career. In 2008, I stepped back over to the publishing side while continuing to write with the launch of the independent house, The Story Plant. And then, when I decided that I wanted to publish my new novel, Blue myself, I set up an entire publishing imprint, The Fiction Studio, to do so, and the slate of writers for that program is growing quickly.

These days, I spend about half of my time writing and the other half publishing. For me, nothing appeals to me more than writing fiction, even when a novel like Blue takes six years to come to completion. Publishing is a very, very close second, though. My love for it has never faded.

Four Thousand Miles by Jesi Lea Ryan

Natalie Spencer just had to get away. Losing her job was bad enough. Then her self-absorbed mother just informed her that she was pregnant- and the father is a former classmate’s of Natalie’s. And she found out her husband had been leading a double life and an affair under her nose for years. Yes, Natalie Spencer just had to get away. She takes the first flight out of Milwaukee that she can find and ends up in London- only to nearly get mugged in the Tube station. Gavin Ashby comes to Natalie’s rescue, thwarting the mugging attempt and offering her a place to recover at his home. Gavin provides a distraction to Natalie and the crumbling state of her life, and they form a special friendship. But when Natalie realizes she may be falling for Gavin, she doesn’t know if she can give up her life back in the States and stay in London with him. She must decide if she is willing to give love another chance, or if she should just get away.
I really liked Four Thousand Miles, the debut novel from Jesi Lea Ryan. Natalie was a terrific heroine, and I supported her when she boarded that plane to London. Her journey with Gavin was romantic yet tricky. I was never quite sure Natalie was going to realize what a great guy Gavin was, and the ending had me flipping frantically through the pages to see how the relationship turned out. I think one of the main reasons I connected so much with this novel is because it felt very real. Natalie was a real girl living in Milwaukee, struggling with her job and family, and did what I would probably have done- fled. Even the ending that had me guessing felt real, because it wasn’t just a nice and tidy little love story ending. There were real people with real problems going through the motions and figuring out their lives. And I love that! I think Jesi Lea Ryan did an outstanding job in Four Thousand Miles, and I hope she has more for us soon.
Rating: 4.5/5

Challenge:Post Reviews:January

January Challenge Reviews Please note this is not the sign up page. To sign up, click HERE Only signed up challengers are eligible to win…

Haunted Honeymoon by Marta Acosta

Marta Acosta wrote a terrific series that joins chick lit and vampires, the Casa Dracula series. The fourth and final installment, Haunted Honeymoon, gave a well deserved ending to heroine Milagro de los Santos. Readers first met Milagro when she was a simple human, but after meeting and falling for Oswald Grant, Milagro has blended seamlessly into the vampire world with vampiristic capabilities and being the only human to survive infection. After the engagement between Milagro and Oswald ends, Milagro begins dating the Dark Lord- Ian Ducharme- but catches him noshing on the blonde next door. Milagro finds vampire activist Wil and engages in a small affair with him, but Wil is murdered- and someone set up Milagro to take the blame. Wanted for possible murder and unable to solicit any help from Ian, Milagro must make some difficult decisions to keep herself- and the vampire clan- happy again.
Overall, I loved this Casa Dracula series. Milagro is the perfect heroine, feisty, funny, independent, but also a little misguided at times. The new romance between her and Ian was exciting to read about in Haunted Honeymoon¸ and there were just enough twists in the plot along the way to keep me guessing how the ending would work out. I think readers will appreciate how Acosta closes the series, and will make them a bit sad that we might not hear from our friend Milagro anymore. I would love to know what happens to her in the future!
Rating: 4.5/5
See my review for other books in this series:
Happy Hour At Casa Dracula- 4 stars
Midnight Brunch- 5 stars
The Bride of Casa Dracula- 4.5 stars

My Top 10 of 2010

Now that 2010 is almost officially over, I decided I just had to make a list of my favorite books of the year. As I looked at my Excel spreadsheet that listed the XXX titles that I read during the past year, I got a little overwhelmed at picking my Favorites. Luckily, I realized that I had made this task a bit easier on myself by adding a Favorites section on my blog. That helped narrow down my choices, but it was still difficult coming up with my Favorite 10 of 2010. Here are the books I chose (in no particular order).
Go Small or Go Home by Heather Wardell- 4.5 stars
A Vintage Affair by Isabel Wolff- 4 stars
Waxed by Robert Rave- 5 stars
Hook Line and Sink Him by Jackie Pilossoph- 4.5 stars
Good Things by Mia King- 4.5 stars
Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella- 4.5 stars
Reunion by JL Penn- 5 stars
On Folly Beach by Karen White- 5 stars
Georgia’s Kitchen by Jenny Nelson- 5 stars
Life After Yes by Aidan Donnelley Rowley – 5 stars

Reese Witherspoon Engaged to Jim Toth

Reese Witherspoon is making it official. People.com confirmed that the actress is engaged to boyfriend of one year, Jim Toth. Witherspoon, 34, and Toth, 40, began dating last January and grew serious fast. Toth has met and bonded with Witherspoon’s children, Ava, 11, and Deacon, 7. This will be the second marriage for Witherspoon, who divorced from actor Ryan Phillippe in 2006 after seven years of marriage. Toth works as an agent for the Creative Arts Agency in Los Angeles, and Witherspoon can currently be seen in the romantic comedy How Do You Know.