Book Mama Blog

About the author:

Jane Green’s is the author of seventeen novels, including sixteen New York Times Bestsellers, including her latest, Summer Secrets. Previous novels have included The Beach House, Second Chance, Jemima J, and Tempting Fate. She is published in over 25 languages, and has over ten million books in print worldwide.

She lives in Westport, Connecticut with her husband and their blended family. When she is not writing, cooking, gardening, filling her house with friends and herding chickens, she is usually thanking the Lord for caffeine-filled energy drinks. A cancer survivor – she has overcome Malignant Melanoma, she also lives with Chronic Lyme Disease, and believes gratitude and focusing on the good in life is the secret to happiness.

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Berkley Books is giving one lucky winner a print copy of

Falling by Jane Green

Monday, July 11, 2016

The Real Peter Pan - Pub Week Promo & Giveaway

The world has long been captivated by the story of Peter Pan and the countless movies, plays, musicals, and books that retell the story of Peter, Wendy, and the Lost Boys. Now, in this revealing behind-the-scenes book, author Piers Dudgeon examines the fascinating and complex relationships among Peter Pan's creator, J.M. Barrie, and the family of boys who inspired his work.

After meeting the Llewelyn Davies family in London's Kensington Garden, Barrie struck up an intense friendship with the children and their parents. The innocence of Michael, the fourth of five brothers, went on to influence the creation of Barrie's most famous character, Peter Pan. Barrie was so close to the Llewelyn Davies family that he became trustee and guardian to the boys following the deaths of their parents. Although the relationship between the boys and Barrie (and particularly between Barrie and Michael) was enduring, it was punctuated by the fiercest of tragedies. Throughout the heart-rending saga of Barrie's involvement with the Llewelyn Davies brothers, it is the figure of Michael, the most original and inspirational of their number, and yet also the one whose fate is most pitiable, that stands out.

The Real Peter Pan is a captivating true story of childhood, friendship, war, love, and regret.

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About the author:

PIERS DUDGEON is a writer, editor, and photographer. He worked for ten years as a publisher in London and then started his own company, Pilot Productions. He is the author of bestselling biographies of Catherine Cookson, Edward de Bono, the composer Sir John Tavener, and the novelists Barbara Taylor Bradford, Josephine Cox, J. M. Barrie and Daphne du Maurier.

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Twitter * Goodreads

Thomas Dunne Books is giving one lucky winner a print copy of

The Real Peter Pan by Piers Dudgeon

Friday, July 8, 2016

The Lost Sheenan's Bride - Pub Day Review & Giveaway

Review by Marlene Engel

Jet has sworn off men. Since her recent breakup, the last thing she needs in her life is another man to wreak havoc. New to Marietta and working as a teacher at a small schoolhouse, her focus is on her work. But every time she sees him at Java Café, her body betrays her. So what that he’s mysterious and handsome, that his long, dark hair gives him a bit of an untamed look and his arm that is sleeved with tattoos adds to that bad boy persona. But despite the physical attraction, she can’t help noticing that every time he’s at the café, he’s surrounded by books and is busy jotting down notes. Not just easy on the eyes, he has a brain too!

When he strikes up a conversation, she learns that he is a writer, but not just any writer. He happens to be Shane Swan, her favorite author. Having always been a book girl, if his looks and intellect didn’t get her, being the mind behind several of her favorite books is enough to send her swooning. But if she isn’t mistaken, he is the same Shane that is staying at the Douglas ranch and writing a sure-to-be bestseller about the horrific Douglas massacre. The same Shane that the Sheenans are hell-bent on getting out of that house and stopping the book from ever getting published.

Yes, Shane chose to stay at the Douglas ranch for research on his novel, but there are secrets in his past that he’s hoping to get answers to. Maybe staying at the Douglas ranch wasn’t totally necessary in doing that, but getting as close to the Sheenans as possible is the ticket he needs. He may not have sought out to use Jet to do that, but it definitely will make it easier. But if the Sheenans have anything to say about it, Jet will heed their warning and stay as far away from Shane as possible.

The last thing Jet expected was to develop feelings for Shane. Now, caught between what her family says and what her heart is telling her to do, Jet is torn. Is she really considering going against her family and the one thing she was dead-set on doing, falling for another man? But as we all know, sometimes the brain can’t control what the heart is determined to feel.

Leave it to Jane Porter to give us an emotionally driven, thought provoking novel with so many twists and turns you’ll never guess what’s going to happen next. Romance mixed with mystery and add in family secrets and you have Jane Porter’s next bestselling novel!

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About the author:

USA Today, and New York Times bestselling author of 50 romances and women's fiction titles, Jane Porter has been a finalist for the prestigious RITA award five times, with her Tule Publishing novella, Take Me, Cowboy, winning the Novella Category July 2014. Today, Jane has over 12 million copies in print, including her wildly popular Flirting with Forty, a novel picked by Redbook Magazine as it's Red Hot Summer Read in 2006 before being turned into a Lifetime movie in 2008 starring Heather Locklear.

Jane holds an MA in Writing from the University of San Francisco and makes her home in sunny San Clemente, CA with her surfer husband three sons, and two dogs.

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We’re giving one lucky winner a print or e copy of

The Lost Sheenan Bride by Jane Porter

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

In Twenty Years - Review & Giveaway

Blurb:

Twenty years ago, six Penn students shared a house, naively certain that their friendships would endure—until the death of their ringleader and dear friend Bea splintered the group for good. Now, mostly estranged from one another, the remaining five reluctantly gather at that same house on the eve of what would have been Bea’s fortieth birthday.

But along with the return of the friends come old grudges, unrequited feelings, and buried secrets. Catherine, the CEO of a domestic empire, and Owen, a stay-at-home dad, were picture-perfect college sweethearts—but now teeter on the brink of disaster. Lindy, a well-known musician, is pushing middle age in an industry that’s all about youth and slowly self-destructing as she grapples with her own identity. Behind his smile, handsome plastic surgeon Colin harbors the heartbreaking truth about his own history with Bea. And Annie carefully curates her life on Instagram and Facebook, keeping up appearances so she doesn’t have to face the truth about her own empty reality.

Reunited in the place where so many dreams began, and bolstered by the hope of healing, each of them is forced to confront the past.

Review by Meg Munson

This is another amazing story by Allison Winn Scotch. She takes the reader into the lives of 6 students at Penn who became entwined with each other after a fateful night their freshman year. That night was the beginning of what they all thought to be an enduring friendship. This story takes you through their perfect friendship during college to the struggles of leaving each other and college, trying to find their path in the world. It proved not be be an easy road, each character harboring secrets, grudges, middle-age, life crisis, empty reality, and finding your identity. This is a great read you don’t want to miss this summer.

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About the author:

Allison spent her childhood in Charlottesville, Virginia and then later in Seattle. Her mother was a teacher who encouraged her to read. She would even send vocabulary words to her when she was at summer camp.

While working as a freelance magazine writer, she began writing stories. In Twenty Years is her sixth novel.

She graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania. When she’s not in front of a computer, she enjoys hiking, running, yoga, reading and spending time with family.

Connect with the author at:

GoldbergMcDuffie Communications

is giving one lucky winner a print copy of

In Twenty Years by Allison Winn Scotch

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

You Will Know Me - Spotlight #SRC2016 #BestSummerEver

How far will you go to achieve a dream? That's the question a celebrated coach poses to Katie and Eric Knox after he sees their daughter Devon, a gymnastics prodigy and Olympic hopeful, compete. For the Knoxes there are no limits--until a violent death rocks their close-knit gymnastics community and everything they have worked so hard for is suddenly at risk.

As rumors swirl among the other parents, Katie tries frantically to hold her family together while also finding herself irresistibly drawn to the crime itself. What she uncovers--about her daughter's fears, her own marriage, and herself--forces Katie to consider whether there's any price she isn't willing to pay to achieve Devon's dream.

From a writer with "exceptional gifts for making nerves jangle and skin crawl" (Janet Maslin), You Will Know Me is a breathless rollercoaster of a novel about the desperate limits of parental sacrifice, furtive desire, and the staggering force of ambition.

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About the author:

Megan Abbott is the award-winning author of eight novels, including The Fever and Dare Me. She received her Ph.D. in English and American literature from New York University. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Salon, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the Wall Street Journal, and the Guardian. Megan is currently a staff writer on HBO's forthcoming David Simon show, The Deuce. She lives in New York City.

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Connect with BookSparks at:

Website * Facebook * Twitter

Learn more about BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge HERE.

Friday, July 1, 2016

It's Not Okay - Review & Giveaway

Blurb:

Andi Dorfman, the beloved finalist of season eighteen of The Bachelor who infamously rejected Juan Pablo and went on to star on season ten of The Bachelorette, dishes about what it’s like to live out a love story—and its collapse—in front of the cameras, offering hard-won advice for moving on after a break-up, public or not.

Andi Dorfman, star of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, talks candidly about what it’s like to be courted by twenty-five handsome, single men in this juicy, insider’s peek at dating—and breaking up—on national TV. She shares entertaining and heartfelt stories about her fellow Bachelor alums—many of whom are still close friends—comes clean about calling out Bachelor #18 Juan Pablo for bad behavior, and reflects on her personal challenges and uplifting experiences in love that she hopes will help you get through your own break-ups with grace and style!

Review by Marlene Engel

I can’t even lie, I am obsessed with The Bachelor/The Bachelorette shows. Watching 25 men/women vie for one person’s attention is entertaining, but all of the shenanigans that goes on, exotic places they visit, and drama that unfolds is enough to have me set my DVR every week to make sure I don’t miss a single episode.

I watched both seasons that Andi Dorfman was in. When she was on Juan Pablo’s season, she was very confrontational with him. She didn’t take lightly to his treatment and told him as much. Needless to say, she was sent

home. But she was a fan favorite and was asked to be The Bachelorette the next season. We watched as she weeded out the men to the last two, where she ended up picking Josh. It’s no surprise that their relationship fizzled fast and now she has a book to give us a glimpse into her time as both one of twenty five contestants in The Bachelor and then her stint as The Bachelorette.

If you are a Bachelor super-fan like me, then you won’t want to miss out on this book. It has everything you would expect from Andi Dorfman … drama and sass, all in the pursuit of love.

Purchase the book at:

About the author:

Andi Jeanette Dorfman is an American television personality and former Assistant District Attorney from Fulton County, Georgia. She is notable for being a contestant on the eighteenth season of The Bachelor, and the main character on tenth season of The Bachelorette. She became famous for walking out on bachelor Juan Pablo Galavis in the ninth episode of Bachelor. She became the first bachelorette to acknowledge being of Jewish ancestry in the show's history, and the first attorney to appear in this role.

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Facebook * Twitter

Gallery Books is giving one lucky winner a print copy of

It’s Not Okay by Andi Dorfman

Thursday, June 30, 2016

One True Loves - Spotlight #SRC2016 #BestSummerEver

About the book:

From the author of Maybe in Another Life — named a People magazine pick and a “Best Book of the Summer” by Glamour and USA TODAY — comes a breathtaking new love story about a woman unexpectedly forced to choose between the husband she has long thought dead and the fiancé who has finally brought her back to life.

In her 20s, Emma Blair marries her high school sweetheart, Jesse. They build a life for themselves, far away from the expectations of their parents and the people of their hometown in Massachusetts. They travel the world together, living life to the fullest and seizing every opportunity for adventure.

On their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is on a helicopter over the Pacific when it goes missing. Just like that, Jesse is gone forever.

Emma quits her job and moves home in an effort to put her life back together. Years later, now in her 30s, Emma runs into an old friend, Sam, and finds herself falling in love again. When Emma and Sam get engaged, it feels like Emma’s second chance at happiness.

That is, until Jesse is found. He’s alive, and he’s been trying all these years to come home to her. With a husband and a fiancé, Emma has to now figure out who she is and what she wants, while trying to protect the ones she loves.

Who is her one true love? What does it mean to love truly?

Emma knows she has to listen to her heart. She’s just not sure what it’s saying.

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About the author:

Taylor Jenkins Reid is an author, essayist and TV writer from Acton, Mass. Her debut novel, Forever, Interrupted, has been optioned with Dakota Johnson attached to star. She is adapting her second book, After I Do, for ABC Family. Her most recent novel, Maybe In Another Life, has been featured inPeople, Us Weekly, Cosmo and more.

In addition to her novels, Taylor’s essays have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, xoJane and a number of other blogs.

She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Alex, and their dog, Rabbit.

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