Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Left to Chance - Release Day Giveaway

No one knows why Teddi Lerner left her hometown, but everyone knows why she’s back.
Twelve-year-old Shayna― talented, persistent, and adorable―persuaded "Aunt Tee" to return to Chance, Ohio, to photograph her father’s wedding. Even though it's been six years since Shay's mother, Celia, died, Teddi can hardly bear the thought of her best friend's husband marrying someone else. But Teddi’s bond with Shay is stronger than the hurt.
Teddi knows it’s time to face the consequences of her hasty retreat from family, friends, and, her old flame, but when she looks through her viewfinder, nothing in her small town looks the same. That’s when she truly sees the hurt she's caused and―maybe―how to fix it.
After the man she once loved accuses Teddi of forgetting Celia, Teddi finally admits why she ran away, and the guilt she’s carried with her. As Teddi relinquishes the distance that kept her safe, she’ll discover surprising truths about the people she left behind, and herself. And she'll finally see what she overlooked all along in Left to Chance by Amy Sue Nathan.

Purchase the book at:
Amazon * Barnes&Noble

About the author:
Amy Sue Nathan is the author of The Good Neighbor, and the founder of WomensFictionWriters.com, named a Best Website for Writers by Writer's Digest. Amy lives in Philadelphia and has a grown son and daughter. You can find her online, often when she shouldn't be.

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Tuesday, November 7, 2017

The Boyfriend Swap - Pub Day Review

You’d think the holidays the perfect time to bring home a new boyfriend to meet the family.  For Robyn and Sidney, that couldn’t be further from the truth. 

Robyn tends to attract a certain type.  A type that her parents aren’t particularly fond of.   So when she starts dating Perry, a struggling actor, she can already predict the reaction her family will have of him.

Then there’s Sidney who works with her father.  Since he’s already so involved in her professional life, she is hesitant to bring Will home to the family. 

After discussing their conundrum, Sidney suggests that they swap boyfriends for the holidays.  I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

If you’re looking for the perfect book to get you in the holiday mood, look no further.  The Boyfriend Swap is a fun, enjoyable read.

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About the author:
A born and bred New Yorker, Meredith Schorr discovered her passion for writing when she began to enjoy drafting work-related e-mails way more than she was probably supposed to. After trying her hand penning children's stories and blogging her personal experiences, Meredith found her calling writing romantic comedy, women's fiction, and contemporary young adult fiction. She secures much inspiration from her day job as a hard-working trademark paralegal and her still single (but looking) status. Meredith is a loyal New York Yankees fan, an avid runner, and an unashamed television addict.

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Website * Facebook * Twitter

Monday, October 30, 2017

Home For Christmas - Pub Week Giveaway

In a charming Maine seaside town, a single mother longs to create a memorable Christmas for her two daughters—and receives a chance to make her own wishes come true . . .
 
At first glance, Nell King’s cozy home in Yorktide seems a step down from the impeccably decorated Boston house she shared with her husband. But in the six years since he abruptly left to marry another woman, Nell and her almost-grown daughters have found real happiness here. Now, faced with what may be their last Christmas together, Nell feels anxious. She gave up her own ambitions when she married. With the daily obligations of motherhood coming to an end, what role is left for her to fill?
 
Twenty-one-year-old Molly worries about sacrificing her independence the way her mother did. Should she stay in Maine with her dependable boyfriend, or move to the city and prove herself? Felicity, meanwhile, is torn between loyalty to Nell and wanting to spend time with her glamorous stepmother. Nell is eager to make this holiday picture-perfect. But there’s a complication—and an opportunity . . .
 
Nell’s first love, now a successful novelist, is in town for a book signing. As the two rekindle their friendship, Nell confronts the choices she once made in the name of stability. And as the days unfold with revelations and unexpected gifts, this Christmas promises to herald a bright new beginning.

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About the author:
Holly Chamberlin was born and raised in New York City. After earning a Master’s degree in English Literature from New York University and working as an editor in the publishing industry for ten years, she moved to Boston, married and became a freelance editor and writer. She and her husband now live in downtown Portland, Maine, in a restored mid-nineteenth-century brick townhouse with Betty, the most athletic, beautiful and intelligent cat in the world.

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Home for Christmas by Holly Chamberlain

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Tuesday, October 24, 2017

The Beautiful Ones - Release Day Giveaway

In a world of etiquette and polite masks, no one is who they seem to be.
Antonina Beaulieu is in the glittering city of Loisail for her first Grand Season, where she will attend balls and mingle among high society. Under the tutelage of the beautiful but cold Valerie Beaulieu she hopes to find a suitable husband. However, the haphazard manifestations of Nina’s telekinetic powers make her the subject of malicious gossip.
Yet dazzling telekinetic performer and outsider Hector Auvray sees Nina’s powers as a gift, and he teaches her how to hone and control them. As they spend more and more time together, Nina falls in love and believes she’s found the great romance that she’s always dreamt of. But Hector’s courtship of Nina is deceptive.

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About the author:
SILVIA MORENO-GARCIA is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Signal to Noise and Certain Dark Things and the short story collection This Strange Way of Dying, which was a finalist for the Sunburst Award in Canada. She was a finalist for the Manchester Fiction Prize and a recipient of the Gloria Vanderbilt/Exile Award for Best Emerging Writer. She lives in Canada.

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Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Christmas in London - release day review & giveaway

Review by Deb Czajkowski
Since she was a young girl baking in the kitchen with her mother, Louisa has wanted to own her own restaurant that specializes in delicate pastries and unusual desserts. Beyond experience, that requires a commercial-sized sink full of cash.  Thus, twelve hour shifts at a bakery on Manhattan’s Lower East Side are the norm for Louisa, especially the week before Christmas. Louisa is just finishing up the trays of treats for the morning’s Christmas special (cinnamon rolls) when Noah dashes in for a shelf full of ─pause─ cinnamons rolls.

Noah is working his way through law school as a cooking show assistant.  Making problems ─poof!─ disappear is what he’s paid to do.  That includes dashing out in the rain when the show burns the cinnamon rolls they were supposed to film that day.  Or finding a substitute host ─“Please, Louisa! Pleeeease be our host!”─ for their annual Christmas Eve Dinner TV special at Claridge’s in London when the cooking show host has an allergic reaction to the secret ingredient (nutmeg) that was in Louisa’s prize-winning cinnamon rolls.

Of course Louisa must do it! After all, this predicament is (sort of) her fault.  And think of the publicity! So Louisa is off to London.  But will this trip prove delicious or disastrous?
The show’s producer, Kate, a graduate of St. Andrew’s in Scotland, is no stranger to London’s corner of the world. And it’s a small world after all when, on her first night in London, she runs into her college best friend, Trevor, while she’s dining at Claridge’s.

Both Kate and Trevor are currently unattached, and their secret attraction for one another still hovers under the surface. But their college years were fraught with misunderstandings and youthful heartaches. More than one heart was broken at graduation.  Although it’s now ten years later, the obstacles Kate and Trevor experienced in college are still there, and they appear to be just as insurmountable today as they were ten years ago. Even the sugar plum fairies see the dilemmas disturbing their dreams. Isn’t that indication enough to let the past be the past?

Anita Hughes’ novel, Christmas in London, is set in a magnificent city in which to be during the Christmas season. Hughes’ lovely descriptions of London sparkle with Christmas traditions and holiday cheer so magical that I both felt like I was there at Christmas but also dreamt of experiencing it all live and in person. Buckingham Palace, The Nutcracker at Covent Garden, the Tower of London, Trafalgar Square, Harrods, just a few ‘musts’ to whet your site-seeing appetite and get you dreaming.  And that’s not even talking food!  Ah, the sweet treats the author describes will have your mouth watering and your fingers googling recipes.

Are you thinking, “Is Christmas in London a travel book?”  No, that’s just a bonus. Anita Hughes’ novel focuses on one week in the lives of two young women, Louisa and Kate. It’s a week filled with fun, fabulous food, and fairy tales. It’s a week marked with mistakes, mishaps, and misunderstandings. We glimpse visions of the future and visit haunts of the past. It’s a week that changes lives.

Should you wait for the holidays for Christmas in London. No need! Pour yourself a relaxing cup of hot tea, help yourself to a flaky, raspberry scone, and enjoy.  It is, after all, tea time somewhere!

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About the author:
Anita Hughes was born in Sydney, Australia and had a charmed childhood that included petting koala bears, riding the waves on Bondi Beach, and putting an occasional shrimp on the barbie. Her writing career began at the age of eight, when she won a national writing contest in THE AUSTRALIAN newspaper, and was named "One of Australia's Next Best Writers." (She still has the newspaper clipping.)

She received a B.A. in English Literature with a minor in Creative Writing from Bard College, and attended UC Berkeley's Masters in Creative Writing program.

She lives in Dana Point, CA with her family, where she interrupts her writing to watch the glorious sunsets.

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Christmas in London by Anita Hughes

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Monday, October 2, 2017

Winter Solstice - pub week giveaway

Raise one last glass with the Quinn Family at the Winter Street Inn. 

It's been too long since the entire Quinn family has been able to celebrate the holidays under the same roof, but that's about to change. With Bart back safe and sound from Afghanistan, the Quinns are preparing for a holiday more joyous than any they've experienced in years. And Bart's safe return isn't the family's only good news: Kevin is enjoying married life with Isabelle; Patrick is getting back on his feet after paying his debt to society; Ava thinks she's finally found the love of her life; and Kelly is thrilled to see his family reunited at last. But it just wouldn't be a Quinn family gathering if things went smoothly. A celebration of everything we love--and some of the things we endure--about the holidays, WINTER SOLSTICE is Elin Hilderbrand at her festive best. 

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About the author:
Elin Hilderbrand has a twin brother who is not a bestselling novelist. She does her best writing on the beaches of Nantucket, as well as on the charming streets of Beacon Hill in Boston. She has three magical children who beg her not to sing along to the radio or dance in public.

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Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Virtually Perfect - Pub Day Review & Giveaway

Review by Deb Czajkowski
People are saying Lizzie Glass is washed up, a ‘has been’, not marketable anymore, and Lizzie can’t very well disagree with them.  It’s been five years since she had her successful television show and her cookbook deal.  Today she’s no longer a celebrity, no longer in demand.  Invitations to parties and events stopped arriving ages (and ages!) ago.  And now her magazine column is being canceled.

Unemployed and seriously in need of income ─and some distance between her and New York would be a breath of fresh air as well─ Lizzie accepts the only paying job on her proverbial (kitchen) table: personal chef for wealthy Jim and Kathryn Silvester at their beach house ─correction: beach mansion!─ on the Jersey Shore.

Creative challenges are Lizzie’s specialty, thank goodness, because the Silvesters have very specific requirements. Jim loves meat but shouldn’t have it.  He’s only at the beach house on weekends, so that’s a help, but every weekend the Silvesters seem to throw a theme party.  Kathryn “I only eat paleo” seems to live for her parties, keeping everyone’s glass (especially hers) full. Son Nate supposedly only eats pizza and not the paleo kind! Daughter Zoe has her one gluten free cupboards that apparently have invisible do-not-touch signs on them.  But that’s not her only obsession. Zoe also has a website she calls The Clean Life, but the entire site smells more than a little fishy.

Lizzie soon discovers that challenge ─the verb─ may be the key word for this summer. Look out Lizzie!  Look out Silvesters!  The gauntlet(s) will be thrown down!

Virtually Perfect is a smorgasbord for reader. The life of the rich (if not famous). Great food menus for foodies (I do love good food!). Family drama (always good fodder for laughs). Intrigue (Who doesn’t love a mystery?). And romance (duh!). Author Paige Robert’s novel has it all.

No matter the month, reading a good book is always in season.  But as the temps drop and the leaves begin to fall, this is a great time to read Virtually Perfect. Just maybe it’ll remind you of the fun times you had this summer; help you laugh over family mishaps; encourage you to seek out fall flavors for fabulous foods; show you that life is messy ─everyone’s life─ at one time or another; make you smile as only love can do.

Fun and funny. Tasty and tempting. Drama and dilemma. Life and love.  Virtually Perfect.

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About the author:
Paige Roberts is a writer, journalist and author of the forthcoming novel, VIRTUALLY PERFECT. A graduate of Yale University and Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, she lives outside Philadelphia with her family and an ever-expanding collection of cookbooks.

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Wednesday, September 20, 2017

The Confectioner's Tale - Pub Day Giveaway

A sensual tale, set in Paris, of love against all odds, family secrets, and the art of confectionery.
At the famous Patisserie Clermont, a chance encounter with the owner's daughter has given one young man a glimpse into a life he never knew existed: of sweet cream and melted chocolate, golden caramel and powdered sugar, of pastry light as air. But it is not just the art of confectionery that holds him captive, and soon a forbidden love affair begins.
Almost eighty years later, an academic discovers a hidden photograph of her grandfather as a young man with two people she has never seen before. Scrawled on the back of the picture are the words “Forgive me.” Unable to resist the mystery behind it, she begins to unravel the story of two star-crossed lovers and one irrevocable betrayal.
A literary mystery and love story, The Confectioner’s Tale is as pleasurable as the finest French patisserie.

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About the author:
After a childhood spent acting professionally and training at a theatre school, LAURA MADELEINE changed her mind and went to study English Literature at Newnham College, Cambridge. The author of The Confectioner's Tale, she now writes fiction, as well as recipes, and was formerly the resident cake baker for Domestic Sluttery. She lives in Bristol, but can often be found visiting her family in Devon, eating cheese, and getting up to mischief with her sister, fantasy author Lucy Hounsom. She lives in the UK.

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Monday, September 4, 2017

P.S From Paris - promo & giveaway

On the big screen, Mia plays a woman in love. But in real life, she’s an actress in need of a break from her real-life philandering husband—the megastar who plays her romantic interest in the movies. So she heads across the English Channel to hide in Paris behind a new haircut, fake eyeglasses, and a waitressing job at her best friend’s restaurant.
Paul is an American author hoping to recapture the fame of his first novel. When his best friend surreptitiously sets him up with Mia through a dating website, Paul and Mia’s relationship status is “complicated.”
Even though everything about Paris seems to be nudging them together, the two lonely ex-pats resist, concocting increasingly far-fetched strategies to stay “just friends.” A feat easier said than done, as fate has other plans in store. Is true love waiting for them in a postscript?

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About the author:
Marc Levy was born in France. When he turned eighteen, he joined the Red Cross, where he spent the next six years. In 1983, he created a computer graphics company based in France and the United States. Six years later, he co-founded an interior design and planning company with two friends; the company soon became one of the leading architecture firms in France.

At thirty-seven, Marc Levy wrote a story for the man that his son would grow up to be. In early 1999, his sister, a screenwriter (now a film director), encouraged him to send the manuscript to a French publisher, who immediately decided to publish If Only It Were True. Before it was published, Steven Spielberg (Dreamworks) acquired film rights to the novel. The movie, Just like Heaven, starring Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo, was a #1 box office hit in America in 2005.

After If Only It Were True, Marc Levy began writing full-time. Since then, he has written 18 novels. His work has been translated into 49 languages and has sold over 40 million copies worldwide. 

Marc Levy currently lives in New York City.

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Thursday, August 31, 2017

The Chesapeake Bride - promo & giveaway

ABOUT THE BOOK:
New York Times bestselling author Mariah Stewart returns to the cherished Maryland shores of St. Dennis with THE CHESAPEAKE BRIDE the charming story of a jaded architect who meets the one man who could finally melt her heart—if she’s willing to let him in.

Cassidy Logan has sworn off good-looking adventurers, having just divorced the one she’d married. Now working with her father’s construction company to build ecologically friendly, historically accurate homes on the Chesapeake Bay, she’s designing them for Cannonball Island. Knowing there’s been no new construction on the island in almost one hundred years, Cass is sensitive to the heritage and history of the sparsely populated island, and has come up with plans so perfect she’s determined to buy one for herself to live in. Even the fact that Owen Parker—whom she dismisses as a lightweight and a player— seems to be everywhere she goes isn’t enough to deter her from building her dream house.

Owen is and always has been sinfully handsome and wickedly clever, a magnet for mischief as well as the girls in St. Dennis. He’s also a rolling stone, going and doing whatever appeals to him, from flying a mail plane in Alaska to working on a cattle ranch in Australia and a shrimp boat in Louisiana, to surfing and diving in Costa Rica. When an old friend offers him a job salvaging a sunken ship in the Chesapeake, Owen gladly accepts. Something’s been telling him it’s about time to head home to Cannonball Island, and a job is as good an excuse as any. He’s totally smitten with the pretty architect, but it seems he’s finally met a woman who’s immune to his charms. Sooner or later, Owen will have to face the reason why he always runs, because this time, leaving just might be harder than staying.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Mariah Stewart is the award-winning New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of numerous novels and several novellas and short stories.  A native of Hightstown, New Jersey, she lives with her husband and two rambunctious rescue dogs amid the rolling hills of Chester County, Pennsylvania, where she savors country life and tends her gardens. 

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Monday, August 28, 2017

No Place I'd Rather Be - Pub Week Review & Giveaway

After being gone for two years, Olivia returns to Montana.  But she’s not alone.  She brings with her two girls that she is hoping to adopt.  The girls had been living with their grandmother, a neighbor of Olivia’s, while their drug addicted parents were serving time in jail.  Olivia had become close to them, so it only made sense that when their grandmother passed that she took them in.  However, their mother is due to be released from jail soon and she plans on reclaiming the children she feels rightfully belongs with her.

While home, Olivia finds an old cookbook in the attic.  Being a chef, she’s intrigued.  But more than that, she’s surprised when it causes her grandmother, a person who has kept her past hidden from the family, starts opening up about life-long secrets.  It doesn’t take long to put some of the puzzle pieces together.  After all, we know that her grandmother is Jewish and from Germany.  But it isn’t necessarily just about the secrets.  It’s the strength that the family has to keep moving forward despite the obstacles in their way.

Throughout the book, I found myself laughing and crying.  But an aspect that I really enjoyed was all of the baking.  There didn’t have to be a reason to bake, it was more of an excuse to get together and have what they called Martindale cake therapy.

No Place I’d Rather Be was a deliciously written book with an eccentric group of characters.  And one I would recommend to all.

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About the author:
Cathy Lamb was born in Newport Beach, California. As a child, she mastered the art of skateboarding, catching butterflies in bottles, and riding her bike with no hands. When she was 10, her parents moved her, two sisters, a brother, and two poorly behaved dogs to Oregon before she could fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a surfer bum.

She then embarked on her notable academic career where she earned good grades now and then, spent a great deal of time daydreaming, ran wild with a number of friends, and landed on the newspaper staff in high school. When she saw her byline above an article about people making out in the hallways of the high school, she knew she had found her true calling. 

Cathy suffers from, “I Would Rather Play Than Work Disease” which prevents her from getting much work done unless she has a threatening deadline. She likes to hang with family and friends, walk, eat chocolate, camp, travel, and is slightly obsessive about the types of books she reads. She also likes to be left alone a lot so she can hear all the odd characters in her head talk to each other and then transfer that oddness to paper. The characters usually don’t start to talk until 10:00 at night, however, so she is often up ‘til 2:00 in the morning with them. That is her excuse for being cranky.

She adores her children and husband, except when he refuses to take his dirty shoes off and walks on the carpet. She will ski because her children insist, but she secretly doesn’t like it at all. Too cold and she falls all the time.

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Thursday, August 24, 2017

Emerald Coast - Review & Giveaway

Review by Melinda Garza
Emerald Coast by Anita Hughes introduces us to Lily and Oliver. Lily is a 32-year-old business woman who owns home furnishing stores on three continents. She’s recently divorced from Oliver, her husband of 10 years. Oliver is a restaurant critic for the New York Times.  She and their daughter, Louisa, live at their restored Connecticut farmhouse. Lily and Oliver were 22 years old when they met and fell in love but later in their marriage, things were impossible. They each made silly mistakes and betrayals and the pain just wouldn't go away. They stopped making each other happy. Oliver lied to Lily about where he was one night and then she let her guard down and did something she regretted. These occurrences caused their marriage to unravel.

After their divorce, Lily traveled to Sardinia while leaving six-year-old Louisa with her parents. Sardinia is one of the sexiest coastlines in the world. Lily was staying at Hotel Cervo, a 5-star hotel, on the Emerald Coast. She was there for the grand opening of her newest store, Lily Bristol Sardinia. All of Lily's employees are women. What Lily didn't remember was that the reservation was made prior to the divorce. Unbeknownst to Lily, Oliver was also there, using their reservation. He was there to review the grand opening of Nero's, Porto Cervo's hottest new restaurant. Porto Cervo has charming, quaint fisherman’s cottages and beautiful galleries. Once Lily realized what occurred she asked for a different accommodation but the only thing available was the room right next to Oliver’s.

Lily and Oliver always seem to end up near each other, always at the same places at the same time. Is this a coincidence or not? What happens with Lily and Oliver?  Are they able to overcome their past and become friends or even date again?

Anita's latest book was a summer read that I could not put down. It is the perfect beach read or a curl up in bed read. It captivated me from page one and I continue to be a huge Anita Hughes fan.

Purchase the book at:

About the author:
Anita Hughes was born in Sydney, Australia. At the age of eight, she won first prize in a nationwide writing contest sponsored by THE AUSTRALIAN, Australia's most prestigious newspaper. She graduated from Bard College with a B.A. in English Literature and a minor in Creative Writing, and attended UC Berkeley's Masters in Creative Writing Program. She lives at The St. Regis Monarch Beach, where she is at work on her next novel. 

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Emerald Coast by Anita Hughes

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