Future Tour: Blue Straggler by Kathy Lynn Harris
Kathy will be on tour April 16-30 with her novel Blue Straggler A blue straggler is a star that has an anomalous blue color and…
In My Mailbox: Week of February 26
In My Mailbox: Week of February 26
Title: Home Front
Author: Kristin Hannah
Received: For the SheKnows Book Club
Synopsis: In her bestselling novels Kristin Hannah has plumbed the depths of friendship, the loyalty of sisters, and the secrets mothers keep. Now, in her most emotionally powerful story yet, she explores the intimate landscape of a troubled marriage with this provocative and timely portrait of a husband and wife, in love and at war.
All marriages have a breaking point. All families have wounds. All wars have a cost. . . .
Like many couples, Michael and Jolene Zarkades have to face the pressures of everyday life—children, careers, bills, chores—even as their twelve-year marriage is falling apart. Then an unexpected deployment sends Jolene deep into harm’s way and leaves defense attorney Michael at home, unaccustomed to being a single parent to their two girls. As a mother, it agonizes Jolene to leave her family, but as a solider she has always understood the true meaning of duty. In her letters home, she paints a rose-colored version of her life on the front lines, shielding her family from the truth. But war will change Jolene in ways that none of them could have foreseen. When tragedy strikes, Michael must face his darkest fear and fight a battle of his own—for everything that matters to his family.
At once a profoundly honest look at modern marriage and a dramatic exploration of the toll war takes on an ordinary American family, Home Front is a story of love, loss, heroism, honor, and ultimately, hope.
Title: Vivid
Author: Andrea Murray
Received: Via CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: When Vivian Cartwright was five years old, she witnessed her mother’s death.
Now, sixteen-year-old Vivian only wants a normal life—hard to accomplish when you possess the power to control energy. Her entire life she has feared her power and its connection to her mother’s murder. She has kept her ability a secret from everyone except her guardian, Charlotte, who has hidden Vivian from the man responsible for her mother’s murder.
Her secret is safe until Vivian subconsciously defends herself at school using her power. After this first use of her gift in many years, Vivian’s power seems to take on a mind of its own, increasing in strength and demanding to be used. This increase in power also brings dreams of her mother’s death and the mysterious man connected with it. When she is assigned to tutor the would-be boyfriend of Trista Parmer (a.k.a. the biggest diva in school), Vivian cannot deny the electrifying connection that she feels for the boy, Easton Garrett. In her desire to get Easton away from Vivian, Trista doubles her efforts to humiliate Vivian, forcing Vivian to use her supernatural gift over and over. With each use, Vivian fears she is losing control and discovers her powers are growing—maybe too much—bringing her unknowingly closer to the man who murdered her mother.
Title: Run Rabbit Run
Author: Kate Johnson
Received: From Choc Lit
Synopsis: Sophie’s in trouble. Must be Tuesday.
Sophie Green’s an ex-spy, or trying to be. You wouldn’t believe the trouble she’s in. An MI5 officer has been shot with her gun, her fingerprints all over his office. And no, she didn’t kill him.
But she has gone on the run.
Now Sophie’s desperately seeking whoever’s trying to frame and kill her. She’s being forced to work with the least trustworthy man in Europe, MI5 is following her every move, and she’s had to leave the tall, blond, god of a man she loves behind.
Luke Sharpe works for MI6. Or did, until his girlfriend became a murder suspect.
Doing nothing wasn’t an option, so he started investigating. Who cares if it is means jeopardising his career? Sophie’s everything he used to say he never wanted. Young, irresponsible, bright and mad. Now she’s just everything – and she has to live.
She will live, won’t she?
In Sara’s Mailbox:
Title: Miracle’s Pain
Author: JT Keitt
Received: From Lauren @ AuthorRight
Synopsis: From the beginning, Patricia Ann Hall knew she had a secret. Within a darkness of shouting voices that only she could hear, inside a world only her eyes could see, she grasped onto a deadly Miracle that although cruel and deceptive, offered her the only escape. Sex was the weapon. Money was the bait. Sanity was the vehicle. And someone had to suffer. Patricia s daughter Symphony finds that even she can t erase the melody of the madness as her past catches up to her, and everything she thought was real reveals its true identity. But is it too late? Miracle s Pain is part two of Secrets of my Soul, the novel that began this twisted tale of mystery; a trilogy that leads to A Promise Fulfilled.
Title: The Book of Lost Fragrances
Author: MJ Rose
Received: Lindsay @ Media Muscle
Synopsis: A Secret Worth Dying For …
Jac L’Etoile has always been haunted by visions of the past, her earliest memories infused with the exotic scents that she grew up with as the heir to a storied French perfume company. These worsened after her mother’s suicide until she finally found a doctor who helped her, teaching her to explore the mythological symbolism in her visions and thus lessen their painful impact. This ability led Jac to a wildly successful career as a mythologist, television personality and author.
When her brother, Robbie—who’s taken over the House of L’Etoile from their father—contacts Jac about a remarkable discovery in the family archives, she’s skeptical. But when Robbie goes missing before he can share the secret—leaving a dead body in his wake—Jac is plunged into a world she thought she’d left behind.
Traveling back to Paris to investigate Robbie’s disappearance, Jac discovers that the secret is a mysterious scent developed in Cleopatra’s time. Could the rumors swirling be true? Can this ancient perfume hold the power to unlock the ability to remember past lives and conclusively prove reincarnation? If this possession has the power to change the world, then it’s not only worth living for . . . it’s worth killing for, too.
The Book of Lost Fragrances fuses history, passion and suspense in an intoxicating web that moves from Cleopatra’s Egypt and the terrors of revolutionary France to Tibet’s battle with China and the glamour of modern-day Paris. This marvelous, spellbinding novel mixes the sensory allure of Perfume with the heartbreaking beauty of The Time Traveler’s Wife, coming to life as richly as our most wildly imagined dreams.
On Tour: Write from the Heart by Heather Hummel
Heather will be on tour February 27-March 19 with her novel Write from the Heart Journals are a woman’s best friend… When Samantha Sounder quits…
Blog Tour Sign Up: A Year to Remember by Shelly …
When her younger brother marries on her twenty-ninth birthday, food addict Sara Friedman drunkenly vows to three hundred wedding guests to find and marry her soul mate within the year.
After her humiliating toast becomes a YouTube sensation, she permits a national morning show to chronicle her search. With the help of best friend, Missy, she plunges head first into the shallow end of the dating pool.
Her journey leads her to question the true meaning of soul mates, as she decides between fulfilling her vow to marry before her thirtieth birthday and following her heart’s desire. But before she can make the biggest decision of her life, Sara must begin to take her first steps toward recovery from her addiction to food.
Interview with Kathleen Long
Why did you want to write Chasing Rainbows?
Hi, Samantha! Thanks for letting me visit with you all at CLP today. Chasing Rainbows is truly the book of my heart. I never fully understood that phrase until I sat down to write this story. Much of Chasing Rainbows is based in truth, so the writing journey was emotional and personal for me.
At the time I wrote the book, I’d been writing romantic comedy and romantic suspense, but longed to write a bigger, deeper book. My father had died suddenly, and I found myself writing a story that mirrored much of my emotional journey. In Chasing Rainbows, Bernie’s father dies in exactly the same way my father died. Her grief makes her realize she hasn’t fully dealt with the grief of losing her daughter, much like my own life. Although the emotions are based on my own, the characters and their individual stories are pure fiction, offering what I hope is an entertaining mix of quirky characters and poignant moments.
With Chasing Rainbows, I wanted to write about one woman’s journey out of the fog of grief back to a life full of possibilities.
What is the hardest part about writing for you?
For me, the hardest part of writing is starting the story. While I don’t plot out every single detail of a book, I need to know where each character is headed and why. If I’m not fully immersed in the characters and their motivations, I find it difficult to write quickly, and I love to write quickly. Writing fast is the process that works best for me. Once I have the foundation of the story ready to go, I’m set. It’s that initial brain work that takes the most time, and considering I spend much of my time negotiating deals with a stubborn six-year-old, quality brain time is a precious commodity in my world.
What is the most rewarding part of being published?
The most rewarding part of being published is two-fold for me—the personal and the professional. Personally, being published is the achievement of a life-long dream. I’m proud that I set a goal and worked hard to succeed. I studied my craft, studied the markets, entered contests and attended conferences. I did my homework. My greatest joy is in knowing I’ve set an example for our daughter, letting her know that dreams can be achieved if you’re willing to work for them. Professionally, the most rewarding part of being published is the contact with readers. I love receiving reader mail and hearing one of my stories struck a chord with someone. There are over one million copies of my books in distribution worldwide. That’s a humbling number. I’m very fortunate to do what I do.
Are you currently working on another novel?
Yes! I’m currently working on the first book in what will be a romantic thriller trilogy centered on The Body Hunters, a group of private citizens who use their skills and capabilities to pursue the victims and criminals society has forgotten. The first book, Vanished, will be released in April. Vanished is the story of Grace Arthur, whose young daughter disappears in exactly the same manner in which her sister vanished years earlier. When the police declare her daughter’s disappearance a case of parental abduction, Grace joins forces with The Body Hunters to bring her daughter home.
Do you have a writing routine you try to stick to?
Before my daughter was born, my time was my own. I primarily wrote in the early morning, but if I was in the thick of a story, I had the freedom to write for fourteen hours straight. I no longer have that flexibility, so I’ve had to relearn my process. For a while, I tried to write late at night. That didn’t work out very well. Now, I’m back to morning writing, working on my portable keyboard as soon as I return from walking my daughter to school. My rule is a minimum of 1000 words when I first sit down. Anything after that is gravy. When the book is flowing, the word count piles up, but even on those tough writing days, I make sure the first 1000 words happen before I shift gears to anything else on my to-do list.
How important do you think blogs and/or social media are to authors?
I believe blogs and social media are very important, but that’s just my opinion. They don’t work for every author. I think an author’s approach to social media depends on their personality. For me, blogging and social media provide a means to build relationships, and I think book marketing—like any other sort of marketing—is about relationship building. That being said, I am not the most active blogger or social media whiz in the world. Far from it! I do what works for me, and I’m happy for the friendships and contacts I’ve made.
I used to maintain my own blog and tried to post something every day. Then I realized writing my blogging was cutting into my creative writing. I phased out the blog. I miss that communication with readers, and think about going back to it someday, but a daily blog isn’t what I need most at this stage in my career. Right now I need daily page production on the next project…and the next…and the next.
What is your advice for aspiring writers?
My advice for aspiring writers is always the same. Learn your craft. Study the markets. Educate yourself. Network. Read. Write. Most importantly, never quit!
Thanks for hosting me today, Samantha!
GIVEAWAY: Favorable Conditions by Kathleen Kole
Pat Keegan thought, once her child rearing years were done, she would be throwing her arms around her husband and together they would be making…
Blog Tour Sign Up: A Contented Mind by Samantha Hoffman
Bestselling novelist Meg Scott thought she was content traveling no further than the places she created within her mind. But when a troubled fan breaks into her home she reacts less like herself and more like a character from one of her novels. Packing up her Irish setter and violin, she leaves her secluded home behind. Soon she discovers, what’s waiting for her on the West Coast, is more than just a change of scenery.
Standing on the balcony of her new beach-front home with her violin, Meg hopes to set free forty years of sadness, but in the process creates a melody her new neighbor can’t ignore. With gentle hands on the piano he works to match her note for note.
But when her best friend Devon Hathaway uses his connections in the music industry to arrange a once in a lifetime audition for a rock band in need of a violinist for their new acoustic album, Meg jumps at the chance, and lands the gig. Shaking hands with the band’s drummer, Jadon Hastings, she finds more than just inspiration for her latest novel.
Swept away with the whirlwind of a European tour, Meg plants her feet on what feels like solid ground. Standing in the place where she can finally grasp everything she’s ever wanted it’s snatched away with one strategic move by Devon, who isn’t ready to give up hope that one day she’ll be his.
Finding her inner strength, and the courage to use it, Meg rips apart the lies that were carefully used to reshape her world, just to discover – those you trust – can’t always be trusted.
Chasing Rainbows by Kathleen Long
Kathleen Long is on tour with CLP Blog Tours. I absolutely adored Chasing Rainbows. Once I started, I simply could not put it down. If it weren’t for work beckoning my name, I would have sat and read this is one sitting. The main character is Bernadette Murphy, a woman who has been having some rough years. From the death of her daughter to her husband leaving her for another woman to her dad passing away, Bernie finally snaps under the pressure. I think it would have been easy for Bernie to come off as whiny or even pathetic – she lets herself binge eat and gain weight, she lashes out her best friend, she seems to always be rude to the friendly next door neighbor – but she didn’t seem that way to me at all. For everything she has been through, the breaking point has to eventually come. I believe it’s what happens after you reach that point. Bernie may struggle throughout the novel, but she learns and is opening to the life lessons, many which come through a series of cryptograms that her father left her before he passed. Bernie’s story really touched me. I was laughing during the book, I shed a few tears, and it’s a book that just made me sit and think. Long is an exceptional writer, and Chasing Rainbows is the latest novel to be added to my Favorites List. A must read for women!
[Rating: 5]
On Tour: Chasing Rainbows by Kathleen Long
Kathleen will be on tour February 20-March 12 with her novel Chasing Rainbows Bernadette Murphy likes her life. Really, she does. What’s wrong with carrying…
