Book Mama Blog

About the Author:

Susan Mallery is the New York Times bestselling author of more than 150 novels, including the uber-popular Fool's Gold romances. Her latest book, Thrill Me, introduces the five fabulously sexy Mitchell brothers. Del Mitchell, the eldest, has just returned to his California hometown after making a fortune designing a sky surfboard that cemented his status as an extreme sports superstar. Visit Susan online at www.SusanMallery.com.

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Friday, August 21, 2015

The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach - Giveaway

Summary:

Young Adelia Monteforte begins the summer of 1941 aboard a crowded ship bound for America, utterly alone yet free of Fascist Italy. Whisked away to the seaside by her well-meaning aunt and uncle, she slowly begins to adapt to her new life. That summer, she basks in the noisy affection of the boisterous Irish-Catholic boys next door, and although she adores all four of the Connally brothers, it's the eldest, Charlie, she pines for. But all hopes for a future together are throttled by the creep of war and a tragedy that hits much closer to home.

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About the Author:

Pam Jenoff is the author of several novels, including The Kommandant's Girl, which received widespread acclaim, earned her a nomination for the Quill Awards and became an international bestseller. She previously served as a Foreign Service Officer for the U.S. State Department in Europe, as the Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Army at the Pentagon and as a practicing attorney at a large firm and in-house. She received her juris doctor from the University of Pennsylvania, her master’s degree in history from Cambridge University and her bachelor’s degree in international affairs from The George Washington University. Pam Jenoff lives with her husband and three children near Philadelphia where, in addition to writing, she teaches law school. Pam would love to skype with your book club or library group!

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Mira is giving one lucky winner a print copy of

The Last Summer At Chelsea Beach

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Thursday, August 20, 2015

Lessons From Tara - Giveaway

Summary:

David Rosenfelt's loyal readers of the Andy Carpenter series are familiar with Tara, the golden retriever sidekick. Many also got to know Tara from Dogtripping, David's nonfiction book about becoming a slightly nutty dog rescuer and the dog that started it all. Here, finally, is a book all about the inspirational canine who taught David everything he knows. Well, he did know how to tie his shoes before he met and came to love Tara, but that's about it.

Through Tara, David learned about dating, about being able to share his emotions, and also about everyday stuff like who gets to use the pillow if several dogs are sleeping in your bed (clue: It's not the human) and why random barking will never be something that can be eliminated. Lessons From Tarais infused with David's trademark wry and self-deprecating sense of humor, and will move readers to tears and laughter.

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About the Author:

I am a novelist with 27 dogs.

I have gotten to this dubious position with absolutely no planning, and at no stage in my life could I have predicted it. But here I am.

My childhood was relentlessly normal. The middle of three brothers, loving parents, a middle-class home in Paterson, New Jersey. We played sports, studied sporadically, laughed around the dinner table, and generally had a good time. By comparison, “Ozzie and Harriet’s” clan seemed bizarre.

I graduated NYU, then decided to go into the movie business. I was stunningly brilliant at a job interview with my uncle, who was President of United Artists, and was immediately hired. It set me off on a climb up the executive ladder, culminating in my becoming President of Marketing for Tri-Star Pictures. The movie landscape is filled with the movies I buried; for every “Rambo”, “The Natural” and “Rocky”, there are countless disasters.

I did manage to find the time to marry and have two children, both of whom are doing very well, and fortunately neither have inherited my eccentricities.

A number of years ago, I left the movie marketing business, to the sustained applause of hundreds of disgruntled producers and directors. I decided to try my hand at writing. I wrote and sold a bunch of feature films, none of which ever came close to being actually filmed, and then a bunch of TV movies, some of which actually made it to the small screen. It’s safe to say that their impact on the American cultural scene has been minimal.

About fourteen years ago, my wife and I started the Tara Foundation, named in honor of the greatest Golden Retriever the world has ever known. We rescued almost 4,000 dogs, many of them Goldens, and found them loving homes. Our own home quickly became a sanctuary for those dogs that we rescued that were too old or sickly to be wanted by others. They surround me as I write this. It’s total lunacy, but it works, and they are a happy, safe group.

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St Martin’s Press is giving 2 lucky winners print copies of

Lessons From Tara by David Rosenfelt

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Wednesday, August 19, 2015

A Paris Affair - Review & Giveaway

Review by Darcie Czajkowski

To some it’s illicit, to others it’s expected.

Affair. Is it a dirty word?

In Paris, a man’s predilection for extramarital dalliances is well-established, notorious even. And the women who marry these men do not live in the dark. They are fully aware that they may be sharing their husband with another, or many other, women.

But when it ultimately happens and they learn the truth, do all women accept the act of disloyalty? Should they accept it as expected, inevitable even, and sweep it under the proverbial rug? Or are there other options, leaving? Revenge?

In A Paris Affair, de Rosnay explores the complex layers of infidelity within the confines of steamy, sultry Paris. Everyone handles unfaithfulness, whether expected or not, one time or perennial, in a different way. De Rosnay, through these short stories, illustrates this concept by drawing the reader into the lives of Paris’ elite. She packs raw emotion, sharp, sometimes sardonic, wit, and heart-wrenching tragedy into each tale and stitches them together to form this compulsively addictive book. It’s a quick read, one which will leave you yearning achingly for more.

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About the Author:

Tatiana de Rosnay was born on 28 September 1961 in Neuilly-sur-Seine. His father is French of Russian origin, his mother English. She describes herself as "Franglaise" and raised in Boston and Paris. After studying literature in England, at the University of East Anglia, Tatiana worked in Paris as a journalist for Vanity Fair, Psychologies, IT and the JDD.

Tatiana de Rosnay has published his first novel, The Show flat in 1992. Since then she has published a dozen books, including Sarah, sold nine million copies worldwide and brought to the screen by Gilles Paquet-Brenner in 2010. Four of his novels are being adapted Boomerang, Spirals, Moka and the Voisin. His favorite novelist Daphne du Maurier is, it published the biography in March 2015, Manderley For Ever, nominated for the 2015 Goncourt Prize winner and Biography of Hossegor Biography 2015.

Bilingual, Tatiana de Rosnay wrote some of his novels in English and others in French. His books are translated in forty countries and is on the list of the most read French novelists abroad, including the Netherlands and the USA. Her favorite themes are family secrets and memory walls.
She lives in France with his family.

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St. Martin’s Press is giving 2 lucky winners print copies of

A Paris Affair by Tatiana De Rosnay

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Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Whisper Beach - Review & Giveaway

Review by Deb Czajkowski

Vanessa Moran’s life at age seventeen was difficult, one might even say it was a huge mess, so much so that she ran away. Well, it was more complicated than that. Her father was unkind and unloving on the good days; drunk senseless on the rest. Given that her mother was dead, killed in an accident, Vanessa waitressed evenings and weekends to buy food for her and her father. The one bright spot in her life was Joe, her best friend and long-time boyfriend ─ until the night they had a fight that began a domino effect of misunderstandings, ending with Vanessa’s father throwing her out of the house. No, that wasn’t quite the end. Vanessa was also pregnant and humiliated. Feeling hopeless and helpless, one day she just disappeared, leaving the whole town of Whisper Beach whispering… Where did she go? Is she dead or alive?

Dorie is the owner of the Blue Crab, the restaurant where Vanessa waitressed. Dorie also runs a safe house of sorts for anyone who needs help, primarily teenagers. It was to Dorie’s house ─ to Dorie ─ that Vanessa went whenever she was afraid of her father, afraid to go home. But as much as Vanessa cared about Dorie, not even Dorie knew why Vanessa disappeared that day or where she went.

Now, twelve years later, it’s Dorie who calls Vanessa home, ostensibly for the funeral of (Vanessa’s cousin and childhood best friend) Gigi’s husband. And it’s Dorie that gives her reasons to stay ─ at least long enough to explore the secrets that still hold her silently but strongly captive.

Is Dorie the only person who is happy to see Vanessa return home? It seems so. Gigi is consistently conflicted, one moment almost clingy and the next, distant. Joe hasn’t married, but he’s also not convinced that Vanessa is his answer for love. Friends and family alike can’t seem to decide how to feel about Vanessa’s return ─ or Vanessa herself! It’s (almost) enough to make a person turn around and walk away, again.

Author Shelley Noble sets the beginning scene of Whisper Beach at the funeral, present day. Vanessa is back home, confronted by family and friends while she confronts her past. But that’s the story here, the present, Vanessa’s life today ─ and maybe her tomorrow. Of course we need to know how Vanessa became the person she is today, and why she chose to go left at the proverbial fork instead of right. The author artfully reveals relevant information throughout the book, gradually filling in the blanks from the past while opening doors that leave us with hope for the future.

I could leave this review at that, but I’m choosing to add an addendum. It’s purely a personal partiality but also a bit of a spoiler alert, so don’t read this paragraph if you don’t want to know more than is given above. I confess that I love books with happy endings, with at least the primary one or two loose ends tied up neatly at the end of the book. And I especially love epilogues. I love books that end with a heartfelt promise and then, with the epilogue, jut you into the future of the blissful people, allowing you, the reader, to share in their future joy. Sigh. Whisper Beach has a realistic ending that really is quite satisfying. I very much liked Shelley Noble’s novel and I love her characters. So I’m not complaining. I’m just saying, given that Whisper Beach is the realistic version instead of the happy endings version and given there’s also no epilogue, could we please have a sequel? I want to know more about the characters’ futures and, yes, to tie up those ends. Shelley Noble, if you’re reading this… Think about it, okay? And then put me on your reader list, please! J

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About the Author:

SHELLEY NOBLE is the NEW YORK TIMES Bestselling Author of the women's fiction novel BEACH COLORS, a #1 Nook bestseller, STARGAZEY POINT three novellas, Holidays at Crescent Cove, Stargazey Nights, BREAKWATER BAY and WHISPER BEACH.

As SHELLEY FREYDONT she is the author of the CELEBRATION BAY FESTIVAL MYSTERIES (Berkley Prime Crime) as well and two other mystery series, and the upcoming Gilded Age Newport Mystery series. Her mysteries have been translated into ten languages.

A former professional dancer and choreographer, she most recently worked on the films, Mona Lisa Smile and The Game Plan. Shelley lives near the New Jersey shore where she loves to discover new beaches and indulge her passion for lighthouses and vintage carousels.

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William Morrow Paperbacks is giving one lucky winner a print copy of

Whisper Beach by Shelley Noble

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Monday, August 17, 2015

Just the Facts - Promo

When English major Nora Plowright finds herself staring at college graduation as if at the edge of a cliff, she decides to become a newspaper reporter--and right away, she manages to get a job at a local paper (which you could still do in 1978). Although fearful by nature, Nora pursues a tip from a stranger and soon is investigating corruption at the Maryland State Highway Authority regarding the controversial placement of a new freeway. The developing scandal, with its shady "players," tests both her budding reportorial skills and her appetite for danger. Also, her passion for storytelling makes it increasingly difficult for her to stick to the facts.

Humorous and poignant, Just the Facts is a coming-of-age novel about finding one's way in the real world that will resonate with anyone who has struggled with figuring out what to do when she or he grows up.

Here’s what readers are saying:

“From the beginning of her first job after college—as a staff reporter for a small Maryland newspaper—Nora Plowright pretty much knows she's happier writing about well-trained cockatiels and a school ban on potato chips than she is dealing with plane crashes, violent crime, and corruption. But nothing is as appealing to her as the variations on reality she rehearses in her mind as she drives from one assignment to the next. This is a touchingly honest and very funny twist on the cub-reporter-earns-her-stripes theme, and Nora is great company as she faces her (mostly) irrational fears, unexpected suitors, unsavory politicians . . . and a very dangerous bag of peppermint puffs.”—Jane Schwartz, author of Caught and Ruffian: Burning from the Start

“Ellen Sherman has written a smart, funny, and accomplished novel. Just the Facts provides both an inside view of the world of a small-town newspaper and an engaging portrait of a young woman at a pivotal point in her life.”—Kitty Burns Florey, author of The Writing Master

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About the Author:

Ellen Sherman received her MFA from the University of Iowa’s Writers’ Workshop, and has worked as a journalist, editor, and teacher. She also has worked as a proofreader, tutor, Girl Scout cookie counter, and training coordinator for literacy volunteers – all afternoon positions so that she could write in the mornings. Her first published novel is Monkeys on the Bed. Besides writing, her passions are choral singing, playing tennis, traveling, sampling new candy, and most of all, hanging out with family and friends.

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Website

Friday, August 14, 2015

The Secret Sister - Promo & Giveaway

Summary:

Did she once have a sister? Has her mother lied all these years? Why?

After a painful divorce, Maisey Lazarow returns to Fairham, the small island off the South Carolina coast where she grew up. She goes there to heal—and to help her brother, Keith, a deeply troubled man who’s asked her to come home. But she refuses to stay in the family house because the last person she wants to see is the wealthy, controlling mother she escaped years ago.Instead, she finds herself living next door to someone else she’d prefer to avoid—Rafe Romero, the wild, reckless boy to whom she lost her virginity at sixteen. He’s back on the island, and to her surprise, he’s raising a young daughter alone. Maisey’s still attracted to him, but her heart’s too broken to risk…

Then something even more disturbing happens. She discovers a box of photographs that evoke distant memories of a little girl, a child Keith remembers, too. Maisey believes the girl must’ve been their sister, but their mother claims there was no sister.

She’s convinced that child existed. So where is she now?

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About the Author:

It was a shocking experience that jump-started Brenda Novak’s bestselling author career.

“I caught my day-care provider drugging my children with cough syrup and Tylenol to get them to sleep while I was away,” Brenda says. “It was then that I decided that I needed to do something from home.”

“When I first got the idea to become a novelist, it took me five years to teach myself the craft and finish my first book,” Brenda admits. “I learned how to write by reading what others have written. The best advice for any would-be author: read, read, read….”

Brenda sold her first book, and the rest is history. Many of her novels have won or placed in contests such as the National Reader’s Choice, the Bookseller’s Best, the Write Touch, the Award of Excellence and the Beacon Award for Published Authors.

Brenda and her husband, Ted, live in Sacramento and are the proud parents of five children—three girls and two boys. She juggles her writing career with her children’s softball and soccer games, field trips, carpool runs and homework sessions.

When she’s not spending time with her family or writing, Brenda is usually working on her annual fundraiser for diabetes research—an on-line auction held at her website May 1st – May 31st. Her youngest son, Thad, has diabetes, and Brenda is determined to help him and others like him. She also enjoys traveling, watching sporting events and biking–she rides an amazing 20 miles every day!

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MIRA is giving two lucky winners a print copy of

The Secret Sister by Brenda Novak

US only