Book Mama Blog

Kensington Books is giving one lucky

Winner a print copy of Mary’s new book

Home With My Sisters

Friday, September 23, 2016

Twelve Days of Christmas - 12 Days of Kindness & a Giveaway

Continuing in a festive annual tradition, #1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber returns with a new original holiday novel full of romance and cheer—and the magical prospect of finding love in the most unexpected places.

Friendly and bubbly, Julia Padden likes nearly everyone, but her standoffish neighbor, Cain Maddox, presents a particular challenge. No matter how hard she’s tried to be nice, Cain rudely rebuffs her at every turn, preferring to keep to himself. But when Julia catches Cain stealing her newspaper from the lobby of their apartment building, that’s the last straw. She’s going to break through Cain’s Scrooge-like exterior the only way she knows how: by killing him with kindness.

To track her progress, Julia starts a blog called The Twelve Days of Christmas. Her first attempts to humanize Cain are far from successful. Julia brings him homemade Christmas treats and the disagreeable grinch won’t even accept them. Meanwhile, Julie’s blog becomes an online sensation, as an astonishing number of people start following her adventures. Julia continues to find ways to express kindness and, little by little, chips away at Cain’s gruff façade to reveal the caring man underneath. Unbelievably, Julia feels herself falling for Cain—and she suspects that he may be falling for her as well. But as the popularity of her blog continues to grow, Julia must decide if telling Cain the truth about having chronicled their relationship to the rest of the world is worth risking their chance at love.

Purchase the book at:

Amazon* Barnes&Noble

My act of kindness:

In celebration of the upcoming release of this book, I’ve been asked to share an act of kindness that I recently performed. Here in Upstate New York, where I live, it’s tradition to go apple picking every fall. When my daughter and I went, we got sooo many apples. I decided to make some apple cinnamon muffins with a cinnamon/sugar crumble. I brought some to my brother’s house for him and his family. When I got there my niece’s boyfriend was at the house. He recently moved back up to the area after his family was relocated down south. He apparently loved the muffins I made. Since I still had apples left over, I thought I’d make him some muffins. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to be so far away from family, especially when you’re only 19 years old! So I thought I’d make him some goodies and give him a “taste of home.” I know it’s nothing big, but when you’re still a kid, away from family, going to school and living as a “broke college student” even the littlest of treats is appreciated.

About the author:

Debbie Macomber is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and one of today’s most popular writers with more than 200 million copies of her books in print worldwide. In her novels, Macomber brings to life compelling relationships that embrace family and enduring friendships, uplifting her readers with stories of connection and hope. Macomber’s novels have spent over 950 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Ten of these novels hit the number one spot.

Celebrated as “the official storyteller of Christmas”, Macomber’s annual Christmas books are beloved and five have been crafted into original Hallmark Channel movies. Macomber is also the author of the bestselling Cedar Cove Series which the Hallmark Channel chose as the basis for its first dramatic scripted television series. Debuting in 2013, Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove was a ratings favorite for three seasons.

Macomber owns two businesses in Port Orchard, WA, the town which inspired the Cedar Cove Series. These include the Victorian Rose Tea Room, featured in the Cedar Cove Series, and A Good Yarn Shop, introduced in her popular Blossom Street novels. They are located on the Village Square campus, which also serves as Debbie’s corporate headquarters.

She and her husband, Wayne, serve on the Guideposts National Advisory Cabinet, and she is World Vision’s international spokesperson for their Knit for Kids charity initiative. A devoted grandmother, Debbie and Wayne live in Port Orchard, Washington and winter in Florida.

Connect with the author at:

Random House is giving one lucky

Winner a print copy of Debbie’s book

Twelve Days of Christmas

Thursday, September 22, 2016

The Secrets She Kept - Promo/Giveaway

The rich and powerful Josephine Lazarow, matriarch of Fairham Island, is dead. The police say it's suicide, but Keith, her estranged son, doesn't believe it.

Keith bears scars—both physical and emotional—from his childhood, but he's worked hard to overcome the past. After walking away from his mother and her controlling ways five years ago, he's built a new life in LA. He's also accumulated a fortune of his own. But as soon as he learns of his mother's death, he returns to Fairham. He feels he owes it to his grandfather to put the family empire together again—and he's determined to find his mother's killer.

Problem is…coming home to Fairham puts him back in contact with Nancy Dellinger, the woman he hurt so badly when he left before. And digging that deep into his mother's final days and hours entails a very real risk.

Because the person who killed her could be someone he loves…

Purchase the book at:

About the author:

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Brenda Novak has penned over 45 novels. A two-time Rita nominee, she's won The National Reader's Choice, The Bookseller's Best, The Bookbuyer's Best and many other awards. She runs an annual online auction for diabetes research every May at www.brendanovak.com. To date, she’s raised over $2 million. Brenda considers herself lucky to be a mother of five and married to the love of her life.

Connect with the author at:

Tandem Literary is giving one lucky winner print copies of both

The Secrets She Kept and The Secret Sister

The Bookshop on the Corner - Pub Week Giveaway

About the Book:

Nina Redmond is a literary matchmaker. Pairing a reader with that perfect book is her passion… and also her job. Or at least it was. Until yesterday, she was a librarian in the hectic city. But now the job she loved is no more.

Determined to make a new life for herself, Nina moves to a sleepy village many miles away. There she buys a van and transforms it into a bookmobile—a mobile bookshop that she drives from neighborhood to neighborhood, changing one life after another with the power of storytelling.

From helping her grumpy landlord deliver a lamb, to sharing picnics with a charming train conductor who serenades her with poetry, Nina discovers there’s plenty of adventure, magic, and soul in a place that’s beginning to feel like home… a place where she just might be able to write her own happy ending.

Purchase the book at:

About the Author:

Jenny Colgan is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous novels, includingLittle Beach Street Bakery, Christmas at Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop, and Christmas at the Cupcake Café, all international bestsellers. Jenny is married with three children and lives in London and Scotland.

Connect with Jenny Colgan:

Enter to win one of three print copies of

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

All the Good Parts - Pub Day Review & Giveaway

Leona is thirty-nine years old, single and living in her younger sister’s basement. Her situation isn’t exactly conducive to being a mom and she has come to accept that. When she has a visit with her gynecologist, and is informed that her biological clock is winding down, she finds that the thought of being a mom stays at the forefront of her thoughts. This causes a sudden panic and Leona to start considering her options. She could always try fertility treatments or adopt, but she realizes that those options cost money. Lots of money … of which she doesn’t have. That’s when she starts considering the few single guys that she knows. Could there be a potential suitor in the bunch?

What I really enjoyed about this book was the sense of hope it brought. I left the story realizing that it doesn’t matter how old you are, you are never too old to go after what you want out of life.

The author wrote in such a way that made it relatable with the perfect amount of humor. And the men that Leona encounters? Let’s just say, they bring a lot of enjoyment to the story.

Purchase the book at:

About the author:

I was a reader before I was a writer, devouring everything I could get my hands on, including the backs of cereal boxes and the instructions booklet for building the Barbie dream house. Later, my obsession with reading evolved into an absolute need to write. After college, I wrote for national trade magazines, taught writing to college freshmen, and eventually found the guts to try fiction.

I'll Be Seeing You, my novel cowritten with Suzanne Hayes, debuted from Harlequin Mira in June 2013. Our second book, Empire Girls, releases on May 27, 2014.

My solo work includes The Witch Collector, Parts I & II, paranormal thrillers for HarperTeen. I love all things witchy--Stevie Nicks is my gal!

When I'm not writing, I'm knitting, baking, and doing all kinds of things my high school self would have found hilarious.

Connect with the author at:

Lake Union Publishing is giving

One lucky winner a print copy of

All the Good Parts by Loretta Nyhan

Friday, September 16, 2016

The Spice Box Letters - Pub Week Giveaway

Katerina inherits a scented, wooden spice box after her grandmother Mariam dies. It contains letters and a diary, written in Armenian. As she pieces together her family story, Katerina learns that Mariam's childhood was shattered by the Armenian tragedy of 1915.

Mariam was exiled from her home in Turkey and separated from her beloved brother, Gabriel, her life marred by grief and the loss of her first love. Dissatisfied and restless, Katerina tries to find resolution in her own life as she completes Mariam's story – on a journey that takes her across Cyprus and then half a world away to New York.

Miracles, it seems, can happen―for those trapped by the past, and for Katerina herself.

Purchase the book at:

About the author:

EVE MAKIS studied at Leicester University and worked as a journalist and radio presenter in the UK and Cyprus before becoming a novelist. She is the author of The Spice Box Letters. Eve is a part time tutor in creative writing at Nottingham University. She is married with two children and lives in the UK and Cyprus.

Connect with the author at:

Thomas Dunne Books is giving

One lucky winner a print copy of

The Spice Box Letters by Eve Makis

Thursday, September 8, 2016

A Boy Made of Blocks - Pub Week Giveaway

Alex loves his family, and yet he struggles to connect with his eight-year-old autistic son, Sam. The strain has pushed his marriage to the breaking point. So Alex moves in with his merrily irresponsible best friend on the world’s most uncomfortable blow-up bed.

As Alex navigates single life, long-buried family secrets, and part-time fatherhood, his son begins playing Minecraft. Sam’s imagination blossoms and the game opens up a whole new world for father and son to share. Together, they discover that sometimes life must fall apart before you can build a better one.

Inspired by Keith Stuart’s own relationship with his autistic son, A Boy Made of Blocks is a tear-jerking, funny, and, most of all, true-to-life novel about the power of difference and one very special little boy.

Purchase the book at:

About the author:

KEITH STUART, author of A Boy Made of Blocks, is games editor at theGuardian. He started out as writer and features editor on the highly influential magazine Edge, before going freelance in 2000 to cover games culture for publications such as The Official PlayStation Magazine, PC Gamer, and T3, as well as investigating digital and interactive art for Frieze. He also writes about music, film and media for the Guardian, and is a regular on the Tech Weekly podcast. He is married with two sons.

Connect with the author at:

Website * Twitter

St. Martin’s Press is giving once lucky winner

A print copy of Keith Stuart’s new book

A Boy Made of Blocks