Taylor Swift can add yet another honor to her ever-growing list. Already the youngest CMA winner in history and selling more than 10 million albums, the singer is now CoverGirl’s latest spokesperson. Joining others such as Queen Latifah, Rihanna, and Drew Barrymore, Swift said it was a “dream come true,” reports People.com. Her ads for a new line of luxury cosmetics will debut in January.
Joanna Krupa is engaged! The model and Dancing With the Stars alum, 31, got engaged to boyfriend Romain Zago, who owns Mynt Lounge, a celeb friendly club in Miami. Usmagazine reported the couple news, confirmed by a source close to the two time Playboy cover girl, saying they got engaged about “a month and a half ago.”
And here comes another cheating husband. Actor David Boreanaz had admitted to be unfaithful to his wife of almost nine years, Jaime Bergman. The Bones star, 40, spoke to People.com about his affair, saying, “Our marriage has been tainted with my infidelities. I just want to be open and honest. I was irresponsible.” Boreanaz says he is coming forward with the news because the woman he was involved with asked for money and threatened to tell the media if he did not pay her. What’s next for the couple? “We’re working on our marriage,” he says. “We’re working on repairing what has been damaged so badly.” Bright side David? At least there is just one mistress- for now.
In My Mailbox: Week of May 2nd
Title: I Scream, You Scream
Author: Wendy Lyn Watson
Received: From Wendy Lyn Watson for Review & Giveaway
Synopsis: Recently divorced Tallulah Jones is mortified when she’s stuck scooping sundaes for her two-timing ex-husband-and his bodacious new girlfriend, Brittanie-at his company luau.
But when Brittanie drops dead, Tally is suddenly the prime suspect in her murder investigation. To catch the killer, Tally will have to dip deep into her small Texan town’s darkest secrets and churn up stories some would prefer to keep in the past. But can she uncover the real culprit before a murder charge puts her dreams on ice for good?
Title: The Summer We Read Gatsby
Author: Danielle Ganek
Received: From Danielle Ganek
Synopsis: Half sisters Cassie and Peck could not be more different. Cassie is a newly divorced journalist with her feet firmly planted on the ground; Peck is a vintage-obsessed actress with her head in the clouds. In fact, the only thing they seem to have in common is their inheritance of Fool’s House, a rundown cottage left to them by their beloved Aunt Lydia. But Cassie and Peck can’t afford the house, and they can’t agree on anything, much less what to do with the place. Plus, they’ve inherited an artist in residence and self-proclaimed genius named Biggsy, who seems to bring suspiciously bad luck wherever he goes. As these two likeable sisters try to understand their aunt’s puzzling instructions to “seek a thing of utmost value” from within the house, they’re both distracted by romantic entanglements with men from their pasts. The Summer We Read Gatsby, set in the end-of-an-era summer of 2008, is filled with fabulous parties, eccentric characters, and insider society details that showcase Ganek’s pitch-perfect sense of style and wit.
Halle Berry and Gabriel Aubry have reportedly split, according to reports from People.com. The Oscar winner and her boyfriend began dating four years ago and have one child together- 2 year old daughter Nahla. There has been no report as to what caused the breakup, and Berry’s rep has yet to comment on the news.
Lance Armstrong is about to be a father again- for the fifth time! The cycling champion and cancer survivor, 38, posted via Twitter the happy news for him and his girlfriend Anna Hansen, and then confirmed the baby news to his hometown paper Austin American Statesman. Armstrong already has one child with Hansen, 10 month old Maxwell, and three with ex-wife Kristin: 8 ½ year old twins Isabelle and Grace, and 11 year old Luke.
Time for another book giveaway! Lovely author Sarah Pekkanen has agreed to host a giveaway through Chick Lit Plus, and one lucky winner will receive a copy of her debut novel The Opposite of Me. To get entered, leave a message on this post, comment on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter (be sure to send me a message if you follow me on Twitter so I can enter you)! The winner will be announced on Friday, April 30th. Good luck!
Jacob Hunt isn’t the average teenager. Though he is seemingly quite smart- especially with forensics analysis, he is terrible at reading social cues and expressing emotions, causing him to be an outcast among his school. But Jacob suffers from Asperger’s syndrome- a form of autism. While he can function at a higher level than those with autism, it doesn’t help him make friends any easier. The only person who really seems to understand Jacob is his tutor- until she is found dead, and Jacob is the prime suspect. Suddenly, Jacob’s family- which includes his single struggling mother and younger teenage brother- are under the spotlight. Could Jacob really have committed murder?
House Rules is a gripping, suspenseful novel by best-selling author Jodi Picoult. By examining different character point of views, readers can get a deeper understanding of the murder mystery at play. The clues help lead the plot along, but are never too informative, so I kept trying to read faster to find out who was the real killer. I had tears in my eyes while reading what Jacob’s mother went through during her daily life- what she needed to do when Jacob has tantrums in public and how she was coping during the days he was in jail. The story is powerful until the end, and keeps you thinking about the characters long after you have finished.
Q: When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?
I’ve been making up stories since I was a little kid, but I think the moment I realized I really wanted to do this was when I was thirteen and decided to write a novel. It was a dreadful, mawkish love story, but I found the experience extremely satisfying. From that point forward, writing became very important to me.
Q: You write both fiction and non-fiction. Why did you decide to write both?
Well, I actually didn’t decide to write fiction professionally for a long time. I wrote a novel right out of college, tried to get it published, and collected enough rejections to heat the house for a week. After that, I walked away from fiction for a long time – walked away from book-length writing completely for a period. I got on with my day job and then a nonfiction writing opportunity presented itself. This turned into a rather steady career. A couple of years ago, though, I realized that I really missed writing fiction. I felt that there were all kinds of things I wanted to say, especially about relationships between people, that I couldn’t ever address in my nonfiction. Fortunately, my fiction writing skills had been quietly improving in the background all these years. My first published novel, When You Went Away is just a tiny bit better than that novel I wrote in college (which will never come out of the trunk).
Q: What do you want readers to take about from your books?
What I’m hoping they get is some level of reflection. Each of my novels have come about because I wanted to do two things: I wanted to explore how people connect with one another and I wanted to ruminate on a particular thing. In When You Went Away, it was parenthood. In Crossing the Bridge it was family, specifically brothers. These are obviously tremendously common experiences, and I’m hoping the novels give people a reason to think about their own lives.
Q: I am about to start reading your third novel, The Journey Home. Where did the inspiration for these characters come from?
The inspiration for The Journey Home was particularly strong: my mother and father’s romance. They had been married for more than fifty years when my father died (I was born after they’d been married quite a while and I’m last in the birth order – more on that in another novel) and they were the most important people in each other’s lives for every one of those years. One of the important viewpoint characters in the novel is an elderly woman whose husband died five years earlier and who has decided to live in her head so she can re-live the time they had together. Some of this is the direct result of conversations I had with my mother after my father passed.
Q: What is your favorite part of the writing process?
I love creating and learning about the characters. I spend a great deal of time thinking about them and getting to know them. My goal is to be so familiar with them that I don’t have to think about how they would react when I’m in the middle of a scene, that it all just comes naturally to me. I also love writing dialogue. I have a tremendous amount of fun playing out the conversations in my head. One day, I’d like to write entire novella in dialogue.
Q: I read that you were previously a teacher. How were you able to break into the writing industry?
Lucky break, really. Someone needed a co-author for a book and I happened to have the right skillset for the job. I connected with that person’s agent and things have been very steady since.
Q: I also read you worked in retail (as have I). Do you have any customer horror or hilarious tales?
(You know, I really don’t have a great one. It was a while ago, and I think I blocked a lot of it out. Probably best if we just skipped this question.)
Q: If you were stranded on an island and had to have on celebrity with you, who would choose and why?
That’s a huge challenge for me. If you were going to spend a huge amount of time with another person, you’d want that person to be genuinely interesting rather than simply a personality. I admire many celebrities for their craft, but I’m not sure they’d be all that much fun to hang out with once we got past the starstruck stage. I’d probably say Bruce Springsteen because I not only love his work, but I admire his passion and the causes he supports. I would imagine we’d have a number of fascinating conversations, though I doubt I’d be able to hold up my end of them.
Q: What is your best advice for aspiring writers?
Write what you love and write it as passionately and honestly as you possibly can. Also, never do it because you think you’re going to be a star. If that happens, great, but it’s unlikely to happen if this is your only reason for doing it.
Q: Where would be your dream vacation?
It would be a week each in all of the dining capitals of the world. And since we’re taking “dream,” I’d get to eat like a true gourmand and not gain a single pound.
