Monday, January 13, 2014

Becoming Josephine - Review

Review by Darcey Pickett

This is not your everyday love story; this story takes you back 200 years to France, during the French Revolution.  We visit several parts of France and Ms. Webb has such a way with words, you feel as if you are walking with our main character, Rose.

Rose Tascher comes to Paris with the hopes of attending Court with Alexandre, but soon those hopes are dashed as Alexandre leaves her in the middle of the French Revolution.  Rose being a very strong and determined woman of affluence, she climbs her way up in to the world of high society.  Again short lived as her friend and society member are dying for the cause.  After surviving time in what is described as I would view hell, Les Carmes, she is determined to have that status once again, and that means a total reinvention.  The transition is power as we see Rose become Josephine.  After all she has been through she realizes she has a choice to make, independence or love, surprisingly she choose the love of the man who will forever go down in history, Napoleon Bonaparte.

This was not at all the story I thought it would be.  I was pleasantly surprised to find among the pages very little about Napoleon and plenty on this very determined and incredibly strong woman – Josephine.  This world needs more female heroes such as Josephine who survived some of the most awful scenes of the French Revolution.

Not my typical type of read, but I enjoyed this book and recommend this to any woman that face any challenges in her life.  The strength of Josephine will flow from the words on the page to the depth of your soul.

Purchase book at:

Heather Webb grew up a military brat and naturally became obsessed with travel, culture, and languages. She put her degrees to good use teaching high school French for nearly a decade before turning to full time novel writing and freelance editing. 
When not writing, Heather flexes her foodie skills or looks for excuses to head to the other side of the world. She loves to chitchat on Twitter with new reader friends or writers or via her blog. Stop on by!


Love and Other Games - Book Tour & Giveaway


Love and Other Games
By: Ana Blaze, Melinda Dozier, Aria Kane & Kara Leigh Miller

Blurb
LOVE AND OTHER GAMES is a collection of four sexy new adult stories centered around athletes competing in the Winter Games by Ana Blaze, Melinda Dozier, Aria Kane, and Kara Leigh Miller.

Worth More Than Gold by Ana Blaze
Amy Pierce, the klutzy sister and manager of America’s Skating Sweetheart, is used to being invisible. But when a friend drags her to a party near the Olympic Village, Amy catches the eye of a sexy Norwegian ski jumper. It’s a magical night, but an awkward next morning has her running.

Everyone knows Erik Andresen’s best shot at an individual medal was back in 2010, before an injury pulled him from the competition. He’s there for his team, but a hot night and a remarkable final training session have him wondering if a gorgeous good-luck charm could give him another chance at the podium.

With a little bit of luck, these two might have a shot at something worth more than gold.

Trouble with Gold by Melinda Dozier
US snowboarder and notorious prankster, Ty (Trouble) Madsen is only getting a taste of his own medicine when his Olympic teammates shackle him to a fence wearing nothing but his boxers.

Reception and protocol volunteer, Nadia Hoffman, gets up close and personal with the sexy snowboarder to rescue him, but she's not the kind of girl who lets her hormones get in her way. A professional performance could help her land her dream job at Olympics Committee Headquarters, but her new assignment supervising the rambunctious US Snowboarding Team is making that difficult. Can she see behind the snowman in the community center bathroom and into the warm heart of the man everyone calls Trouble?

The Girl behind the Gold by Aria Kane
Greek aerial skier Lia Milonas’s parents are about to lose the family farm. Saving it means medaling and landing a huge sponsor. While her no-nonsense attitude has her well on her way to a medal, it hasn’t won her a place in fans' hearts.

“Come back with a story that will make readers cry, or don’t come back.” This is what Brandon James’ boss told him before he left New York to cover the Winter Games for Moment Magazine. With a wink and a smile, he can charm his way into any invite-only party, but that career-making story is nowhere to be found – until he meets Lia.

The two strike a deal that should get them both what they want - but neither would have guessed they’d also find what they need.

Ice Gold by Kara Leigh Miller
Colton Campbell thrives on the fast paced, adrenaline rushed lifestyle of being an Olympic hockey player.

Despite Brenna Jessup's abhorrence for the games and the athletes, she's hand-picked as the official photographer for the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team.

When a faux pas by Brenna almost costs Colton his career, she owes him. Too bad for her, Colton doesn't want apologies -- he wants retribution! And he knows just how to get it -- and her -- in the process.

Buy Links
Amazon * B&N

The Golden Girls: Collaboration in the Digital Age
Guest Post By Aria Kane

The story behind the idea that led to Love and Other Games is well documented (click! It includes the phrase “70,000 condoms wasn’t enough”), but I get a lot of questions on how it was to work with my three co-authors. Namely: How’d you keep track of everything? How were decisions made?

The first question’s easy to answer: Google Docs. Sure, we had literally thousands of emails back and forth about everything, but all important information went in a Google Docs folder we all had access to. There were documents for character sketches, timelines, publishers to submit to, query information, even setting & character inspiration photos! When it was time to revise, our manuscripts even went in that folder for critique from the other authors.

I have a feeling that when people ask the second question, what they’re really asking is: what did you do when you disagreed? And that’s a much harder question to answer. When you’re writing a book on your own, you get to make all the major decisions yourself (at least, at the start).  With a project like this, everything has to be run through your collaborators.

And the key to this is two distinct things: respect and communication.

If one of us felt uncomfortable with something or didn’t agree, we were not afraid to let the other ladies know.  I have a strong personality and strong opinions and that can sometimes be intimidating (especially in email), I know, but it was clear from the beginning that everyone had equal say in the major decisions.

 I chose these ladies to work on this project with me because I already respected them. In conversations, each person’s opinion was just as valuable as anyone else’s. Some decisions (like which publisher to go with) were harder than others and there are always compromises to be made, but in the end, I feel so honored to have worked on this project with these three wonderful Golden Girls. In fact, I enjoyed it so much, I’m doing it again (twice!) in 2014! So keep an eye out for more awesome collaborative projects from us (and extra guests) this year.


Author Info and Links
Aria Kane is a recovering mechanical engineer and romance writer. As a military brat, she grew up all over the country, but now lives in sunny Florida with a 60 lb mutt who thinks he's a chihuahua.


Kara Leigh Miller
Born and raised in the small town of Mexico, New York, Kara was an only child who was forced to find ways to entertain herself. Playing make believe with her Barbie dolls and stuffed animals was her first real taste of storytelling before she became old enough to develop a love affair with the written word.

In early 2010, Kara picked up her very first romance novel, and she was instantly hooked. She loves to write contemporary romance, new adult, and young adult romance. Currently she has several full-length novels in the works, a series of novellas, and a handful of short stories. Kara is an active member of the CNY Creative Writers Café and the CNY Romance Writers.

Today, Kara resides in New Haven, New York with her husband, five kids, and three cats. When she's not reading or writing, she's thinking about reading and writing. And when she's not doing that, she's spending time with her family and friends.

Recently, Kara has taken on the position of Managing Editor for the Surge Imprint at Anaiah Press, LLC -- a Christian fiction press. She's working exclusively in the young adult and new adult line. 


Melinda Dozier lives in Guatemala, Central America, with her husband, three boys and German Shepherd.  She enjoys being the queen of her household and dreams of being pampered fully by her boys once they’re grown. 

Learn more about her at:

Ana Blaze
Ana lives just outside Washington DC with her very supportive husband and three rather demanding cats. She loves the ocean, Indian food, Ikea, and cooking. Ana admits to watching too much television and she swears that someday she’s going to learn how to play the guitar resting on the bookshelf in her office.

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Rafflecopter Giveaway (Nook Simple Touch (see terms for international) and Swag Pack from Aria Kane (Olympic bracelet, evil eye necklace, bookmarks) (US only)

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