New Book Releases: March 2014
Contributor: Allie I don’t know about you, but for me this winter has been long and cold. We’ve had lots of snow and too many…
Future Tour: Dangled Carat by Hilary Grossman
Hilary will be on tour March 31-April 28 with her chick lit novel Dangled Carat Hilary had gotten used to dating the commitment-phobic Marc, thirteen…
In My Mailbox: Week of March 3
Title: We’ll Always Have Paris
Author: Jennifer Coburn
Received: Jennifer Coburn
Synopsis: How her daughter and her passport taught Jennifer Coburn to forget about dying and truly live
Jennifer Coburn has always been terrified of dying young. It’s the reason she drops everything during the summers on a quest to travel through Europe with her daughter, Katie, before it’s too late. Even though her husband can’t join them, even though she’s nervous about the journey, and even though she’s perfectly healthy, she spends three to four weeks per trip jamming Katie’s mental photo album with memories. In this heartwarming generational love story, Jennifer reveals how their adventures helped relinquish her fear of dying…for the sake of living.
Title: Giving Myself Away
Author: Grete DeAngelo
Received: Grete DeAngelo
Synopsis: In Giving Myself Away, divorced mother Adrienne Manning is devastated to find out she’s pregnant after messing around with a guy who’s clearly not boyfriend material.
He’s a lonely mortician with a spiteful daughter, and things just happened late one night after a funeral. When Adrienne meets George Freihoffer in a coffee shop to tell him the news, he asks her to get married and promises to take care of her.
Adrienne hasn’t been single long and she doesn’t trust men so easily after Drew, her high school sweetheart turned husband, left her for a perky soccer mom.
Adrienne and Drew’s two sons don’t like spending weekends with their dad and his new wife, who has three wild boys of her own. They are confused about why Adrienne plans to give up the new baby and they worry she’ll get rid of them too.
Adrienne gives George an ultimatum: agree to the adoption or she won’t talk to him anymore. He accepts, but in the meantime, drifts into a relationship with Carolyn, a woman Adrienne initially set him up with to get him off her back. Adrienne realizes when he’s gone that although she might not have been madly in love with him, George was a good friend and she misses having him around. Being alone causes Adrienne to second-guess her decision about the baby.
Giving Myself Away grabs readers by the heart and guides them through a realistic journey fraught with tough decisions.
Title: After Wimbledon
Author: Jennifer Gilby Roberts
Received: Jennifer Gilby Roberts
Synopsis: After 12 years on the pro. tennis tour and four years with her sort-of boyfriend, Lucy Bennett has had enough. She wants real life… and real love.
Her life, her decision. Right? Well, no one else seems to think so. With opinions on all sides, Lucy’s head is spinning. And she’s stumbling right into the arms of long-term crush and fellow player Sam. Shame her boyfriend – his arch-rival – would sooner smash a racquet over their heads than agree to a simple change of partners.
As the Wimbledon Championships play out, Lucy fights for her life on and off the courts. The question is: what will she be left with after Wimbledon?
Future Tour: Becoming Mrs. Walsh by Jessica Gordon
Jessica will be on tour March 24-April 7 with her chick lit novel Becoming Mrs. Walsh Shoshana Thompson is 26 years old, miles from home, and engaged…
CLP Blog Tours Book Review: Private Air by Billie Bates
Reviewer: Samantha Billie Bates is now on tour with CLP Blog Tours and Private Air Summary: When Sienna Harris joined the Australian Air Force as…
In My Mailbox: Week of February 24
Title: Dangled Carat
Author: Hilary Grossman
Received: CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: to pressure him for marriage, believing that when the time was right, he would propose. But after they had been together for four years, their friends decided to take matters into their own hands, pushing Marc to propose and making Hilary realize how much she really did want to marry the man that she loved. Unfortunately, Marc still wasn’t ready–and their friends’ meddling in the form of a faux engagement party led to a disastrous New Year’s Eve that brought their relationship to an inevitable turning point.
Title: When Girlfriends Take Chances
Author: Savannah Page
Received: CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: A novel about exploring love and life’s path, and taking chances along the way.
Emily Saunders has never thought twice about grabbing her passport, rucksack, and camera and trekking across the globe. If there’s an NGO, a study abroad program, or simply the travel itch, Emily’s on the first plane out. Free-spirited, open-minded, and eager to explore, it’s no wonder Emily’s hardly in one spot (or relationship) for long.
For the past year and a half, though, Emily’s found herself planted in her college hometown of Seattle. She’s surrounded by her best friends, has steady work as a photographer and at her friend Sophie’s cafĂ©, and is certainly kept busy by the wild antics of her BFF Jackie. Life’s enjoyable, but Emily’s looking for something more. She’s ready for a change, for adventure!
But when Emily tells her girlfriends she’s ready for something new she does not expect Operation Blind Date!
Sure, Emily’s single. Sure, she hopes to some day find true love. But being thrown into an insane challenge like this is not exactly the adventure she had in mind! Couldn’t she just travel and focus on her photography? Or volunteer in Africa? Will a string of eligible bachelors lined up by her friends–a shot at finding a real and lasting love–really be that change she’s searching for?
This is a spirited story about seeking adventure while being true to yourself, wherever you are in life. It’s a story about love, risk, and self-discovery. About what happens when girlfriends take chances.
While this New Adult Contemporary Romance is Book #5 in the When Girlfriends collection, it can be read as a stand-alone.
Title: The Baby and the Bride
Author: Laura Barnard
Received: Laura Barnard
Synopsis: Poppy and Jazz’s lives sound perfect on paper. Jazz has a new baby and Poppy’s getting married. But their realities are very different.
Poppy must strive to keep her cool new job with crazy hours, while trying to keep Ryan happy. Before she knows it her wedding has got out of control, thanks to her mother, the runners at work are bullying her, her parents are in financial difficulty and she’s doubting everything and everyone she ever knew.
Meanwhile Jazz is struggling with motherhood, something a credit card won’t fix. Why won’t this baby give her a break? Will Jazz be able to cope before she loses it?
And will Poppy make it down the aisle? Will Ryan even be waiting?
Title: To Catch a Creeper
Author: Ellie Campbell
Received: Ellie Campbell
Synopsis: Cathy is riding high in her brand-new job at a (surprisingly bitchy) top London advertising agency working with best friend Rosa. But when Rosa’s pregnancy goes amiss and enemies sabotage her new career, she finds herself leading a chaotic double life of lies and deception, hiding a shameful secret from all, especially husband Declan who appears in the throes of a nervous breakdown. Meanwhile she’s agreed to unmask the notorious Crouch End Creeper, a burglar terrorizing their neighbourhood. Little does she know that her meddling, assisted by fellow mothers (the Wednesday Once Weeklies) and the Neighbourhood Watch, will lead their dangerous opponent to murder. And that it’s not only the tall elegant transvestite who is placing herself at risk…
Book Review: Weightless by Michele Gorman
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
Summary:
Sometimes looks can be deceiving
Annabel’s not surprised when nobody recognizes her at her 10 year reunion. The spotty fat teen nicknamed AnnaBall by the school bullies is long gone. But standing on the edge of the popular crowd, she still feels like that girl. That is, until Jack, her teen crush, starts flirting with her. Much to her amusement, he has mistaken her for Christy Blake, Annabel’s chief tormenter before she moved to France in their last year.
It’s just a bit of fun at first, letting Jack believe she’s Christy. After all, he was nuts about her before she said au revoir to England. And when he asks Annabel out, the fun becomes something even more interesting. The more they date the deeper they fall for each other. So what if Annabel has to fib a little to keep up the façade?
As the lies start compounding, and she realizes that they’re falling in love, she has to tell him who she really is. But she’ll lose the love of her life if she does.
Review:
I’m a big fan of Michele Gorman. I’m not a big fan of novellas. That being said, I think I enjoyed Weightless enough. It’s only about 40 pages, and maybe took me a half hour to read in one sitting. The story itself was cute, though sometimes I struggled to believe it, but if you let yourself just flow along with the characters you can try to put that factor out of your mind. Again, since it’s so short it’s tough for me to say I was really invested or hooked, because by the time I was really getting into Annabel’s story it was over. I do think Gorman did a good job building the characters and giving readers enough plot to get interested in. I liked that we got to know a client of Annabel’s and some back story on her time in college. For a novella, I think this is a good one, and I highly recommend Michele Gorman to chick lit readers. I just wish I liked short stories more!
3.5 stars
Novel Spotlight: Real Chick Lit For Real Chicks by Meredith …
Today’s Novel Spotlight isn’t so much for just one novel, but rather – a collection! I’m so excited for Meredith Schorr that she now has…
On Tour: Private Air by Billie Bates
Billie will be on tour February 24-March 24 with her novel Private Air When Sienna Harris joined the Australian Air Force as a flight attendant for…
