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Blog Tour Sign Up: Transplanting Holly Oakwood by Di Jones

Finding her lover in bed with her best friend was the worst thing ever, but leaving London for Los Angeles pushed trouble to a whole new level.

Holly Oakwood’s cosy life is shattered when her boyfriend has an affair with her best friend. Determined to mend her broken heart by throwing herself into her career, but unable to hide her contempt for her new boss, she loses her job as well.

She lands a dream job in a Consulate in LA, but that’s when her troubles really begin. She struggles to settle, loneliness begins to bite, and everyone around her is thin and shallow. She loses her confidence, makes a fool of herself once too often, and her new boss hates her. Can she salvage anything from the train wreck of her new life, or should she return to England?

What ensues is a comically entertaining series of events that catapult Holly into new friendships, the promise of romance and the realization that home is where the heart is.

About Di

Born in Liverpool, I started my working life as a librarian, and have worked in a variety of jobs since, but none were as much fun as the one that allowed me to write and get paid for it. That was a few years ago, and each year it’s become more and more apparent what I want to do is write full time, a dream that first occurred to me at seventeen.

Like my characters, I love my family and friends, beautiful shoes, anything sparkly, the ‘occasional’ drink, parties, and a good belly laugh. I’m addicted to shopping, chocolate, bubble bath and anything else that smells nice, and the sort of TV programmes you’d never publicly admit to watching.

I’ve lived in England, Canada, the Unites States, but now call New Zealand home. I live in a lovingly renovated home overlooking Auckland’s beautiful Waitemata Harbour, with my trusted friends Bronson Boxer and Dolce Dane. They keep me fit and exercised, scare the burglars away, sit loyally by my side throughout my late night writing sessions, and hang on my every word when I read final drafts aloud. They truly are my biggest fans, and I theirs!

I love my life, but not so much that there’s not room to live a load of other lives, through the hearts and minds of my characters, all of whom I adore, and some of whom I’m fortunate enough to call friend.

2012 Favorite Reads: Samantha’s Picks

Sad Desk Salad Jessica Grose 5 stars Sarah’s Key Tatiana de Rosnay 5 stars  Blackberry Winter Sarah Jio 5 stars  Don’t Let Me Go Catherine…

Book Review: The Seven Steps to Closure by Donna Joy …

Donna Joy Usher is on tour now with CLP Blog Tours and The Seven Steps to Closure. Tara Babcock is our leading lady, a thirty year-old whose marriage was broken up by another women – her own cousin, Tash. Even worse – her ex and Tash are now set to be married, and Tara just can’t seem to pick up the pieces and move on. When her best friends offer up a magazine article with the title Closure in Seven Easy Steps, Tara decides (after much cajoling) to give it a shot. She never expects the journey that is presented to her – or the closure that it will offer.
I had a blast reading The Seven Steps to Closure! The writing is fun and light and the plot moves along seamlessly from scene to scene. Tara and her friends are a hoot to read about, and I enjoyed that each lady had her own minor plot point to add a little extra to the story. There is a very heart-felt tone the author brings to her writing, yet the book is full of humor and plenty of laugh-out-loud moments to enjoy. One for your reading list!
[Rating: 4.5]

Future Tour: Love at 11 by Mari Mancusi

Mari will be on tour February 4-25 with her chick lit novel Love at 11. When Maddy graduated from Columbia University, she was ready to…

Holiday Giveaway: Under Her Spell by Eliza Daly

Holiday Giveaway: 10 E-books & An Autographed Print Book!
Under Her Spell by Eliza Daly!

Eliza Daly is giving away 10 e-copies of her chick lit romantic comedy Under Her Spell in exchange for reviews on Amazon or Barnes & Noble! Just leave a comment about the book to be entered in the giveaway. One winner will also receive an autographed print copy of Under Her Spell, available in January. The winners will be announced Friday, December 21. Each winner must agree to post a review by January 20, 2013. Books will only be available in Kindle or Nook format and will need to be downloaded by December 28 or an alternate winner will be chosen. Thank you so much for participating in Eliza’s holiday giveaway!

Book Blurb

When a series of failed relationships and business ventures have Monica Jackson doubting her self-worth, she turns to spell casting to attract positive energy and the opportunities needed to achieve her goals. But can Monica’s belief in spells restore her belief in herself?

Monica creates a spell to find her soul mate, and one to ensure the success of her new romantic event planning company, Enhance Your Romance. Monica is confident she has found her niche until divorce lawyer Reed Walker opens a practice next door to her office. The anti-marriage slogan plastered on his office window, and his down-on-love clients, quickly prove detrimental to Monica’s business. When his arrival appears to trigger a string of bad luck, Monica fears one of her spells sent negative energy into the universe and it has returned to her threefold. Although Reed is beyond sexy, and she admires his self-confidence, she’ll do whatever it takes to get the universe back on her side, and Reed out of her life. No way is she losing another business.

Reed finds himself attracted to Monica’s beauty and her optimism. His job and his parents’ divorce have made him a pessimist, especially when it comes to love. However, he soon finds that Monica’s pro-love attitude is rubbing off on him, causing him to lose his edge. If Reed doesn’t distance himself from Monica, he’ll likely destroy his reputation as a pit bull divorce lawyer.

Can Monica and Reed look past what they might be losing to realize the love they have found?

Under Her Spell is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Kobo, and eBooks.com.

You can find Eliza on the web at Website, Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.

Prologue
Monica Jackson was raising a bowl of sea salt, preparing to cast a spell circle on her bedroom floor when the door flew open. She nearly dropped the bowl as her cousin Hope stormed in, covered with flour and cake batter — the Unhappy Homemaker from Hell.
“No way is he getting the BMW,” Hope said, shaking a wooden spoon in her hand and sending batter flying across the room.
The night before, Hope had caught her scumbag husband Kyle in bed with another woman. Not wanting to impose on her happily married friends, she’d showed up at Monica’s door, even though they weren’t exactly close. Hope made a Stepford Wife look like a total slacker, and the only thing she and Monica had in common were their Italian features: dark hair and brown eyes. A wedding cake decorator, Hope was coping with Kyle’s infidelity by baking like a mad woman. Forget the cake. Monica would shove Kyle in the oven and roast him on high.
“What are you doing?” Hope’s gaze narrowed on the small wooden table in front of Monica, where her ingredients for the soul mate spell sat on top of a red tablecloth: a red candle, lavender incense, jasmine oil, cinnamon, and a love letter to her as yet unidentified true love.
“Casting a spell to help find my soul mate.”
“A spell? Does that really work?”
“Hopefully.”
Monica’s psychic friend Jordan had convinced her that spell casting was a viable alternative to Milwaukeemates.com and speed dating in general. Neither of which Monica had time for, since establishing her new business was top priority. Her company, Enhance Your Romance, planned unique romantic events and was sure to succeed, unlike her other dozen failed business plans. Society was obsessed with being in love.
“A spell … ” Hope mused, then her face lit up. “If there’s a spell to attract a man to a woman, there must be one to repel women from a man. Right?”
“Spells shouldn’t involve negative energy. Sending out negative energy can cause it to return threefold. They aren’t intended to harm someone or make them do something against their will.” Jordan had drilled this into her head.
“I wouldn’t be making Kyle do anything against his will. I’d be warning women to stay away from him.”
Sounded borderline.
“Please,” Hope whined, picking a clump of batter from her long, wavy hair.
Monica let out a defeated groan. “All right.” Hope would never actually cast the spell anyway. When they were young, Hope refused to wear a Casper costume for Halloween because she didn’t believe in ghosts. She was closed-minded when it came to paranormal or New Age beliefs. And you had to truly believe in a spell for it to work.
Monica set down the bowl of salt and grabbed a pencil and pad of paper off her desk and handed them to Hope. “Write this down. It’s called,” she tapped a hot pink nail against her lip, “the dirtbag spell.”
“Like it already.” Hope jotted down the title as she perched on the edge of the bed’s purple floral comforter.
“Take one of Kyle’s socks, fill it with dirt, and add a photo of him. It’s critical you aren’t in the photo.” Monica paced, tightening the sash on her lavender silk robe. “Include something of his like … ”
“His new Rolex?”
Personally, Monica would list the watch on eBay and pray for a bidding war. But Hope, no matter how ticked off, was too timid to sell Kyle’s precious watch, and too frugal to risk damaging it by mixing it with dirt.
“That’s fine. Sew up the sock and bury it in your front yard. It’ll warn all women he’s a dirtbag.”
Hope poised the pencil against her lower lip, reviewing the spell. “Don’t I have to say something when I bury it, like a chant?”
What happened to being spell ignorant?
“Bury it in the moonlight while saying … ” Monica scrambled for a few rhyming lines, “moonlight, glowing bright, warn all women in your sight, the man who lives in this house, is a dirtbag and a total louse.”
“Perfect.” Hope sprang from the bed, looking inspired. “Kyle’s at work. I’m going over to the house right now to bury that sock.” She turned and marched out, a woman on a mission.
Monica nibbled nervously on her fingernail. Hope wouldn’t seriously go through with casting the spell, would she? A big part of spell casting was psychological, focusing all your energy on making something happen. Monica had never seen Hope look so determined, or vindictive. Hopefully, if she did cast the spell the negative energy didn’t return threefold.
What was the worst that could happen?

Book Review: A Girl’s Guide to Fairy Tales by …

I received a copy of A Girl’s Guide to Fairy Tales by Laurey Buckland in exchange for an honest review. I am sucker for all things fairy tales, I love Disney princesses, so even though the book wasn’t quite in that realm, the title and cover still sparked my appeal. The novel follows four friends – daydreamer Maddie, obsessive compulsive Clare, over dramatic Isobel, and happy-go-lucky Sophie. I know everyone thinks Sex and the City when you hear about four girlfriends, but I really didn’t think that for a second while reading. I thought the plot and the characters were very unique, as well as the author’s voice. I liked each individual character and that she got her own time in the spotlight. I found myself leaning on Sophie more because she had a lot of drama with her live-in boyfriend that I thought was really intriguing. I do wish there would have been some sort of heading when the POV’s changed, because it took me a while to get in the sync of things and that would have helped me out personally. But overall, a cute chick lit read from a new author that I very much enjoyed.
[Rating: 4]

Future Tour: Next Year I’ll Be Perfect by Laura …

Laura will be on tour February 4-18 with her chick lit novel Next Year I’ll Be Perfect Sarah always thought her life was on track,…

Blog Tour Sign Up: When Girlfriends Step Up by Savannah …

A novel about love and support, and learning that with enduring friendships, no woman is ever alone.

Robin Sinclair is young, determined, and has a promising career at a small publishing house in Seattle. Even though she considers herself unlucky in love, Robin still dreams of eventually meeting Mr. Right and having a happily-ever-after kind of life. And at twenty-five, the world of opportunity is wide. But it’s been a difficult year filled with trials…and it’s only just begun.

While long-time friendships are finally on the mend, and things are starting to look up again, Robin is faced with her biggest challenge yet. She’s single and pregnant.

Uncertain now of her future and scared of being alone, Robin must re-examine her life and choices, and summon the courage to step up.

With the love and support of her best girlfriends from college, especially her best friend and roommate, Lara, Robin will learn that when the going gets tough, the best of friends become family. And, perhaps, with their encouragement, Robin can mature and gain the confidence needed to become a single mother. And, who knows about being unlucky in love. Things are suddenly getting interesting with Robin’s attractive co-worker, Bobby.

This is an endearing story about maturity and perseverance. It’s a story about friends coming together as family, about finding the strength within and around, and about writing your own happily-ever-after. About what happens when girlfriends step up.

Kaira Rouda Holiday Giveaway

Are you feeling Naughty or Nice? Doesn’t matter, with this giveaway, you could win a prize to make both sides happy! To have a little…