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In My Mailbox: Week of November 25

In Samantha’s Mailbox:

Title: Skinnytinis

Author: Teresa Marie Howes

Received: Via CLP Blog Tours

Synopsis: More than 70 ways to enjoy cocktail hour–without worrying about the calories

For people watching their weight, enjoying the occasional cocktail can be a problem, since the average mixed drink contains over 300 calories. Now Teresa Howes comes to the rescue with scores of cocktail recipes that average only 142 calories each–but have the same great flavor and alcohol content as their full-calorie counterparts. From a Skinny Appletini and a Skinny Cosmopolitan to a Skinny Mojito and a Skinny Margarita, these guilt-free drinks feature low-sugar or sugar-free mixers, fresh fruit, and other clever ways to cut the calories. With 39 beautiful color photographs plus a section on diet-friendly drinks people can order at a bar or restaurant, SkinnyTinis is a must-have guide for weight-conscious social drinkers everywhere.

Title: A Girls Guide to Fairytales

Author: Laurey Buckland

Received: From Laurey Buckland

Synopsis: For daydreamer Maddie, obsessive compulsive Clare, over dramatic Isobel and happy-go-lucky Sophie, life is more a world of tragic than magic. For Maddie it’s a constant battle against the monotony of a job she hates while her heart aches to be somewhere else, for Clare it’s a perpetual struggle to vanquish her teenage insecurities and to see herself for the woman she really is, for Isobel it’s a refusal to reveal her true self for fear it’s not what everyone imagined her to be and for Sophie it’s a willingness to believe in a rumour that threatens to poison her perfect relationship.

But with the love and support of their friends and a little bit of luck, the girls soon realise that happy ever afters are not just reserved for fairy tale fiction – as long as they start believing in them.

Title: Married by Christmas

Author: Scarlett Bailey

Received: Unsolicited

Synopsis: All she wants is a perfect Christmas Eve wedding…

It’s been on Anna’s wish-list since she was a little girl, dreaming of a far happier family life than she’d ever experienced.

But now – only two weeks before her big day – her perfect husband-to-be drops a bombshell…

Only nothing’s going to stop Anna’s plans – not even the pesky inconvenience of discovering her groom already has a wife!

In Sara’s Mailbox:

Title: Torn Together

Author: Emlyn Chand

Received: Emlyn @ Evolved Publishing

Synopsis: Evolved Publishing presents “Torn Together” by Emlyn Chand, a story about one woman’s search for love and acceptance, her troubled relationship with her mother, and her desperate desire to find the happiness for which she’s always yearned. LITERARY/WOMEN’S FICTION. ~~~~~ From her cheating boyfriend to her dead father and cold, judgmental mother, Daly knows she can’t trust others to be there when it counts. This cynicism begins to melt away when she meets Kashi, a light-hearted charmer from India, who decides he cares too much to let her fade into the background of her own life. After a series of false starts, their quirky romance carries them to India, where Daly must win the approval of Kashi’s family in order to seal their “forever.” Meanwhile, Laine struggles to cope with the pain of early widowhood, fleeing into the pages of her well-worn library and emerging only to perform her duties as a social worker at the crisis pregnancy center. Although her daughter wants nothing more than to work as an artist, Laine doesn’t know how to redirect Daly to a more suitable profession without further damaging their tenuous relationship. Can Laine look past her pain to learn from an unlikely mentor? Has Daly finally found someone whom she can trust? Will the women recognize their common bonds before the relationship is broken beyond repair? “Torn Together,” Emlyn Chand’s first sojourn into Literary/Women’s Fiction, illustrates how our similarities often drive us apart.

Title: Grace Unexpected

Author: Gale Martin

Received: Susan Ethridge @ Booktrope

Synopsis: This contemporary romantic comedy features thirty-something Grace Savage, who has slogged through crummy jobs and dead-end relationships with men who would rather go bald than say “I do”. In search of respite from her job, her mother, her humdrum life, she visits Shaker Village in New Hampshire. Instead of renewal, she’s unnerved to learn that Shaker men and women lived and worked side by side in complete celibacy.

When her longtime boyfriend dumps her instead of proposing, Grace avows the sexless Shaker ways. Resolved to stick to her new plan – dubbed the Shaker Plan – despite ovaries ticking like time bombs, she returns to her life in Pennsylvania. Almost immediately, she’s juggling two eligible bachelors: Addison, a young beat reporter; and True, a venerable anthropology professor. Both men have ample charms and soul mate potential to test her newfound Shaker-style self-control, and Grace appears to be on the fast track to a marriage proposal… until secrets revealed deliver a death rattle to the Shaker Plan.

Title: Married by Christmas

Author: Scarlett Bailey

Received: Unsolicited

Synopsis: All she wants is a perfect Christmas Eve wedding…

It’s been on Anna’s wish-list since she was a little girl, dreaming of a far happier family life than she’d ever experienced.

But now – only two weeks before her big day – her perfect husband-to-be drops a bombshell…

Only nothing’s going to stop Anna’s plans – not even the pesky inconvenience of discovering her groom already has a wife!

In My Mailbox: Week of August 5

In Samantha’s Mailbox:

Title: Bond Girl

Author: Erin Duffy

Received: From William Morrow

Synopsis: When other little girls were dreaming about becoming doctors or lawyers, Alex Garrett set her sights on conquering the high-powered world of Wall Street. And though she’s prepared to fight her way into an elitist boys’ club, or duck the occasional errant football, she quickly realizes she’s in over her head when she’s relegated to a kiddie-size folding chair with her new moniker—Girlie—inscribed in Wite-Out across the back.

No matter. She’s determined to make it in bond sales at Cromwell Pierce, one of the Street’s most esteemed brokerage firms. Keeping her eyes on the prize, the low Girlie on the totem pole will endure whatever comes her way—whether trekking to the Bronx for a $1,000 wheel of Parmesan cheese; discovering a secretary’s secret Friday night slumber/dance party in the conference room; fielding a constant barrage of “friendly” practical jokes; learning the ropes from Chick, her unpredictable, slightly scary, loyalty-demanding boss; babysitting a colleague while he consumes the contents of a vending machine on a $28,000 bet; or eluding the advances of a corporate stalker who’s also one of the firm’s biggest clients.

Ignoring her friends’ pleas to quit, Alex excels (while learning how to roll with the punches and laugh at herself) and soon advances from lowly analyst to slightly-less-lowly associate. Suddenly, she’s addressed by her real name, and the impenetrable boys’ club has transformed into forty older brothers and one possible boyfriend. Then the apocalypse hits, and Alex is forced to choose between sticking with Cromwell Pierce as it teeters on the brink of disaster or kicking off her Jimmy Choos and running for higher ground.

Fast-paced, funny, and thoroughly addictive, Bond Girl will leave you cheering for Alex: a feisty, ambitious woman with the spirit to stand up to the best (and worst) of the boys on the Street—and ultimately rise above them all.

Title: Second Time Around

Author: Erin Kaye

Received: Unsolicited, Avon Books

Synopsis: A heart-warming tale of love in the face of family and friendship, perfect for fans of Cathy Kelly and Maeve Binchy Divorcee Jennifer Irwin has it all – a successful interior design business and two loving children. But as her 45th birthday approaches and her children prepare to start their own lives, Jennifer is left feeling lonely in her empty nest. That’s when she meets Ben Crawford – a man 16 years her junior – as their attraction heightens, Jennifer realises what she’s been missing. But mindful that the small-town Ballyfergus residents would never approve, they conduct their affair in secret. But a secret is never a secret for long…As the affair surfaces, Jennifer encounters opposition from friends and family, especially her daughter Lucy. Enraged by her mother’s relationship, Lucy seeks comfort in the arms of charismatic but troubled, Oren. Jennifer knows that Oren is not the man he seems, but can she convince her daughter of that? And with everything going against them, can Jennifer and Ben’s love survive? Or will she risk losing her daughter to be with the man she loves?

Title: The Wedding Diaries

Author: Sam Binnie

Received: Unsolicited, Avon Books

Synopsis: The first in a brand new series introduces Kiki Carlow, a woman on a mission to create her perfect wedding.

Kiki Carlow is shocked but delighted when boyfriend Thom proposes. Planning a wedding is easy, right? That’s as long as you ignore:

1. The utterly bankrupting price of the only dress you’ll ever truly love.
2. Your suddenly pregnant sister – surprise!
3. The celebrity wedding you’re covering for work which is devouring your every waking thought.
4. The Mother of the Bride. Entirely.

Kiki soon discovers that planning the perfect wedding might just bring total chaos to the rest of her life. Can she stop being a Bridezilla in time to marry the man she loves?

Heart-warming and hilarious, The Wedding Diaries will make you laugh, cry, and want to watch Bridesmaids all over again…

In Sara’s Mailbox:

Title: Summer Nights

Author: Allie Spencer

Received: Philippa @Random House

Synopsis: Could getting dumped on her birthday and stranded in San Francisco actually be the best thing that could happen to Flora?

Flora Fielding has been dumped on her 30th birthday, and left stranded in San Francisco. With nowhere else to turn, she seeks out her cousin Bella who has been working as a nurse in the city for the past few years. But when she arrives at Bella’s apartment, Flora is shocked to find that her cousin’s in even more trouble than she is—because instead of leading the fast-paced life of an emergency room nurse that Flora has imagined, Bella is eking out a living as the lead singer in an Abba tribute band. But as Flora soon learns, although life in San Francisco with Bella may be uncertain, it’s never ever dull. What with the tense Battle of the Tribute Bands, the threat to the local area by an evil developer, and the attentions of a very persistent computer geek, Flora soon begins to wonder whether she wants to go home at all.