On Tour: Hard Hats and Doormats by Laura Chapman
Laura will be on tour January 27-February 10 with her novel Hard Hats and Doormats Lexi Burke has always been a stickler for following rules and…
Blog Tour Sign Up: Omni by Andrea Murray
Andrea will be on tour in March with her YA/dystopian romance novel Omni. I am looking for book bloggers to post reviews, guest posts, interviews, and excerpts…
Fitness DVD Review: Tracy Anderson Method for Beginners
I’ve been interested in trying a new workout, Tracy Anderson in particular, for a while now. She even made my top 10 list for 2014 goals, so I’m happy to report that it’s January and I’ve picked up her beginner DVD. I thought this DVD might be too basic for me, but I’m really committed to trying her full method and other DVD’s so I figured I should start from the beginning. This DVD has two parts, and the first part is very basic. If you are like me and work out regularly, it probably won’t be much of challenge for you. There is a section of stretches using a chair, an arms section with weights, and then a little dance section that has some toning and a little cardio. She does recommend using wrist and ankle weights, which help tremendously to feel something doing the exercises. I did the first week without them and they were just too easy for me. The second week with the weights was definitely more challenging. Overall, the first part would be good for someone easing into a workout routine, because Tracy does a good job breaking her moves down and starting from the beginning. If you are more advanced, be sure to use those weights.
I am just starting the second part this week for the next two weeks, so I’ll give an update on how that goes for me! Happy 2014 and I hope you’re keeping with your goals and resolutions!
Book Blitz: Becoming Mrs. Walsh by Jessica Gordon
Jessica Gordon will be going on a book blitz February 24 – March 19, and offering up a fabulous prize of a SpaFinder gift card at the end! If you would like to participate in the blitz, we have options for you. You can choose from reviewing the book (eBook copies available), hosting a guest blog or interview with Jessica, a Novel or Author Spotlight feature, or simply posting about the giveaway. If you would like to join in the book blitz, please use the sign up form below. Thank you!
ABOUT BECOMING MRS. WALSH
Shoshana Thompson is 26 years old, miles from home, and engaged to Andrew Walsh, the last single Walsh brother of one of Washington, D.C.’s wealthiest families. Throughout her engagement she becomes enamored with the Walsh lifestyle.
Life in the fast lane comes to a screeching halt when Shoshana develops feelings for another man. When she discovers the feelings may not be one-sided, things are about to get a lot more complicated. This man is not only part of her fancy new world, he is also completely off-limits.
ABOUT JESSICA GORDON
Jessica Gordon is a Johns Hopkins University alumna for both her undergraduate and graduate degrees. She received her bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from the Writing Seminars program and her master’s degree in communications.
After working in the corporate world for several years, Jessica decided to return to her first love: creative writing. Jessica takes her readers to the prominent Washington, D.C. area where her characters navigate through the complex world of family, in-laws, and love.
Novel Spotlight: Love and Other Games
The sexy winter Olympic anthology, Love and Other Games, has a new cover! To celebrate, the authors are giving away a nook. Love and Other…
CLP Blog Tours Book Review: New Beginnings by Mary Metcalfe
Mary Metcalfe is on tour now with New Beginnings and CLP Blog Tours
Summary:
Workaholic real estate agent Carol Brock can’t seem to find a good man. Her first husband cheated with a law clerk less than half his age. Then she found herself in a string of bad relationships with unscrupulous men, including a con man and art thief, who shredded her professional reputation and strained her relationship with her college-age children. Carol has sworn off men and is determined to reclaim her life and career on her terms. But, when Boston’s most eligible bachelor, restoration specialist Devin Elliott, puts in an offer on a charming Victorian, Carol admits she’s attracted. Devin’s offer unwittingly unleashes a psychopathic rage in an ex-girlfriend that spills into Carol’s life. As she and Devin try to stay one step ahead of violence, Carol must decide whether she’s ready to risk her heart again.
Review:
I didn’t realize before reading, but New Beginnings is actually the second book of a trilogy. It was easy to pick up that a story had clearly happened before reading about Carol’s life, but it wasn’t too distracting from the story as some series can be. I liked that Carol is a tough chick, and we see that right away. She’s been through some situations that has made her hard, but she wasn’t unlikeable in any way. I enjoyed watching the romance between her and Devin blossom, but sometimes the start and stop with them was a bit much. There’s a pretty serious story here with Devin’s ex being a psychopath, and I overall thought the book was interesting and the story kept me intrigued throughout. The cover isn’t my favorite, but don’t judge the book by that! I would look forward to the next book in the series as well.
4 stars
*Anyone who leaves a comment on the tour page will be entered to win a $20 Amazon gift card! Anyone who purchases their copy of New Beginnings before January 31 and sends their receipt to Samantha (at) ChickLitPlus (dot) com will get 5 bonus entries!*
Author Bio:
Mary Metcalfe is the author of three published novels – Winds of Change, New Beginnings, Road to Tomorrow – and currently at work on her fourth. She and her long-time husband live in the foothills of the Laurentians in Quebec, Canada with a small herd of cats and a Canadian Eskimo dog. Their daughter is a published literary non-fiction author.
Links
Web site: www.marymetcalfe.ca
Blog: www.lakefrontmuse@blogspot.ca
Twitter: @MetcalfeMary
Shelfari: www.shelfari.com/marymetcalfe/shelf
Find New Beginnings at:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/QUESaR
Barnes&Noble: http://bit.ly/SRR6BZ
Chapters/Indigo: http://bit.ly/SMiMqJ
Future Tour: Private Air by Billie Bates
When Sienna Harris joined the Australian Air Force as a flight attendant for the Prime Minister, she thought she’d hit the glam-job jackpot. But three years of weapons training, outback destinations, and a cheating fighter pilot fiancé, and she’s realized it’s not so fabulous after all. Time to embark on a new adventure, this time to the prestigious world of international VIP aviation.
Sienna and her best friend leave behind their small-town lives for a glitzy career flight attending on a Saudi prince’s private jet. Money, parties, designer clothes, and exotic locations fill the job description, while the sexy pilot, Ted, makes it hard for Sienna to obey the “no fraternizing” rule.
But even the most opulent of journeys can hit turbulence. Sienna’s boss, the appearance-obsessed chief stewardess, issues diuretics and Botox with the uniforms and catering orders, and the prince is a man who’s never told no. Underneath its lush appearance, could this desert oasis be more of a muddy puddle?
The Devil Wears Prada meets Pan Am in this fun frolic to the glamorous side of air travel, inspired by the author’s own experience as a VIP flight attendant in Saudi Arabia and Europe.
Blog Tour Sign Up: Love Bites by Adrienne Barbeau
NOT YOUR MAMA’S POLICE PROCEDURAL! A COP STORY WITH BITE…
Not to mention sharp, cutting wit. Detective Peter King and movie star Ovsanna Moore are the sexiest tongue-in-cheek crime-solving duo since MOONLIGHTING hit the air waves in the ‘80s. But they may remind you more of TRUE BLOOD’s Sookie and Eric than Maddie and David—because one of them’s a vampire. And like Sookie’s Bon Temps, their Los Angeles has its fair share of shapeshifting sometime-humans.
Ovsanna’s the successful owner of her own Hollywood film studio and the star of 17 blockbuster horror films, plus three, sadly, that went straight to video. But even vampires have bad days. Though never fat days or bad hair days—she looks pretty great for 450. And in those four and a half centuries she’s pretty much seen everything, formed an opinion about it, and developed the kind of worldly-wise wit Joan Rivers only dreams about.
Peter, on the other hand, is a Beverly Hills cop firmly rooted in human affairs, from the domestic issues of his lively Italian family to the romantic ones of his neighbor, snake dancer Suzie Q. Though Ovsanna’s had flings with everyone from Genghis Khan to Errol Flynn, Peter’s got what it takes to catch her eye and hold her interest. And he’s one hell of a detective. He’s also a consummate master of spin, concealing what he knows about the world of vampires, werewolves, and shapeshifters while solving the crimes they commit.
Barbeau, a beloved actress much like Ovsanna herself, is a skilled satirist possessed of a sharp eye for the absurdity of Hollywood, with its petty jealousies, vain ambitions, over-the-top visuals, and twisted values. The result of all these delicious elements? An action-packed mystery, a sly satire, and a lush love story, spiced and seasoned with paranormal characters that the author manages to turn into metaphors for the monsters we all encounter on a daily basis.
In My Mailbox: Week of January 20
Title: Done With Men
Author: Shuchi Singh Kalra
Received: Shuchi Singh Kalra
Synopsis: Travel journo, Kairavi Krishna (Kay) has had it with men. After a series of disasters (losers, philanderers, leeches, mama’s boys and possessive psychos), she is all too tempted to walk out on the prospect of ever finding love. Accompanied by her best friend and flat-mate Baani, she sets off for Goa, hoping to get away from her miserable love life and vowing to stay clear of the male species.
Goa however, has a host of surprises in store for her. Ricky, her pesky ex-boyfriend, is busy painting the town red with his hot new girlfriend. Now what is poor Kay to do, other than overdose on vodka, smoke pot, get an outrageous tattoo and fall off the hotel balcony? She wakes up in the hospital to the tender ministrations of Dr.Vivian D’Mello–young, suave and handsome as hell. Will Kay stick to her guns or will she fall for his ridiculously sexy charms? And what’s up with the mixed signals he’s giving out?
Title: Lost Lake
Author: Sarah Addison Allen
Received: St. Martin’s Press
Synopsis: From the author of New York Times bestseller Garden Spells comes a beautiful, haunting story of old loves and new, and the power of the connections that bind us forever…
The first time Eby Pim saw Lost Lake, it was on a picture postcard. Just an old photo and a few words on a small square of heavy stock, but when she saw it, she knew she was seeing her future.
That was half a life ago. Now Lost Lake is about to slip into Eby’s past. Her husband George is long passed. Most of her demanding extended family are gone. All that’s left is a once-charming collection of lakeside cabins succumbing to the Southern Georgia heat and damp, and an assortment of faithful misfits drawn back to Lost Lake year after year by their own unspoken dreams and desires.
It’s a lot, but not enough to keep Eby from relinquishing Lost Lake to a developer with cash in hand, and calling this her final summer at the lake. Until one last chance at family knocks on her door.
Lost Lake is where Kate Pheris spent her last best summer at the age of twelve, before she learned of loneliness, and heartbreak, and loss. Now she’s all too familiar with those things, but she knows about hope too, thanks to her resilient daughter Devin, and her own willingness to start moving forward. Perhaps at Lost Lake her little girl can cling to her own childhood for just a little longer… and maybe Kate herself can rediscover something that slipped through her fingers so long ago.
One after another, people find their way to Lost Lake, looking for something that they weren’t sure they needed in the first place: love, closure, a second chance, peace, a mystery solved, a heart mended. Can they find what they need before it’s too late?
At once atmospheric and enchanting, Lost Lake shows Sarah Addison Allen at her finest, illuminating the secret longings and the everyday magic that wait to be discovered in the unlikeliest of places.
Title: Fallen Beauty
Author: Erika Robuck
Received: Penguin Group
Synopsis: “Without sin, can we know beauty? Can we fully appreciate the summer without the winter? No, I am glad to suffer so I can feel the fullness of our time in the light.”
Upstate New York, 1928. Laura Kelley and the man she loves sneak away from their judgmental town to attend a performance of the scandalous Ziegfeld Follies. But the dark consequences of their night of daring and delight reach far into the future.…
That same evening, Bohemian poet Edna St. Vincent Millay and her indulgent husband hold a wild party in their remote mountain estate, hoping to inspire her muse. Millay declares her wish for a new lover who will take her to unparalleled heights of passion and poetry, but for the first time, the man who responds will not bend completely to her will.…
Two years later, Laura, an unwed seamstress struggling to support her daughter, and Millay, a woman fighting the passage of time, work together secretly to create costumes for Millay’s next grand tour. As their complex, often uneasy friendship develops amid growing local condemnation, each woman is forced to confront what it means to be a fallen woman…and to decide for herself what price she is willing to pay to live a full life.
