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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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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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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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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Star Craving Mad - Promo & Giveaway

      

Maddy Braverman, thirty and single, has taught first grade at an uber-elite private school in Greenwich Village for the past six years, a hip downtown school lauded as much for its progressive pedagogy as its priveleged progeny̵and its multitude of sex-crazed staff̵including the headmaster, AKA the Head Molester. Angry at herself for not moving on, Maddy gets distracted from her pity party with a new student̵Lola Magdalena, daughter of A-list celebrities Nic and Shelby Seabolt̵a last-minute addition to her class roster. 

When tragedy strikes Lola, Maddy has the chance to meet with Nic in his TriBeCa apartment. Maddy’s sexy celebrity fantasies turn to reality, leaving her breathless and spellbound. But from her front-row vantage point, Maddy learns the hard way that celebrity is not all it seems, and gets dealt a devastating blow that could leave her jobless, loveless and alone. If she could just see things clearly she could save herself from going Star Craving Mad.

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1.  What was your biggest inspiration while writing your book?

Working at an elite private school in NYC AND suffering a way-too-long celebrity obsession. You could say that writing this book was an exorcism of really masochistic tendencies.

2.  Which character in your book is most like yourself?

So far I am always my protagonist. In Star Craving Mad, it’s Maddy Braverman. (Narcissm. Check. Self-investigation. Check. Desire to be a superstar. Checkarooney).

3.  What do you think is your lead character’s best trait?

Maddy is full of wonder, always questioning everything around her but most of all herself. She’s what I like to call a cynical optimist. And she’s honest—not full of shit or pretentious like some other characters (Rachel Tepper).

4.  What is your favorite scene in your novel?

One of my favorite scenes was not in the first generation of this novel. It’s toward the end when Maddy has her final wake-up call regarding her chosen false idols. I don’t want to give too much away, but the new scene makes my skin crawl. In the best of ways.

5.  What is your writing process?

Agonize, write something shitty, come up with a great idea, write five pages of it, lose interest, binge-watch House of Cards, take a nap, repeat until two or three personally important issues resonate deeply enough within me that I can stand to be married to them for at least three years, countless rewrites and a personality change that only slightly annoys my family.

6.  Where is your favorite place to write?

I have no special place. I don’t like to make anything into a ritual that becomes so precious it strangles the creative and productive impulse right out of you. I guess where I am right now at the kitchen counter, with my son pestering me, the dog scratching at my ankles and my protein shake sweating on the laminate countertop. It’s as good a place as any.

About the Author:

Elise A. Miller discovered her talent and passion for writing by accident, during a short-lived but rigorous acting pursuit in the late 1990s. She immediately began studying writing in earnest at Gotham Writers’ Workshop in New York City, and hasn’t looked back since. Elise completed courses in advanced fiction, memoir, novel writing, stand-up comedy and screenwriting. In 2000, she published her first piece in The Sun Magazine, and in 2002 she was one of the founding members of Little Red Writing Group in Brooklyn.

Elise lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, two kids and two teeny rescue dogs. She blogs about everything and anything here, about her personal fitness journey at bodyenta.com and about creative writing coaching at beechwoodwriters.com.

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Star Craving Mad by Elise A Miller

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Does This Beach Make Me Look Fat - Giveaway

The unstoppable, irreverent mother-daughter team presents a new collection of funny stories and true confessions that every woman can relate to. From identity theft to the hazards of bicycling to college reunions and eating on the beach, Lisa and Francesca tackle the quirks, absurdities, and wonders of everyday life with wit and warmth. As Lisa says, "More and more, especially in the summertime when I'm sitting on the beach, I'm learning not to sweat it. To go back to the child that I used to be. To see myself through the loving eyes of my parents. To eat on the beach. And not to worry about whether every little thing makes me look fat. In fact, not to worry at all."

So put aside your worries and join Lisa and Francesca as they navigate their way through the crazy world we live in, laughing along the way.

Lisa Scottoline and her daughter Francesca Serritella have teamed up again to write a fabulous must read for the summer.  Full of fun short stories that will have you laughing out loud one minute and tearing up the next, you are sure to relate to several of these stories as they touch on a wide array of subjects. 

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About the Authors:

Lisa Scottoline is the New York Times bestselling author and Edgar award-winning author of 23 novels, including her latest, Every Fifteen Minutes. She also writes a weekly column with her daughter Francesca Serritella for the Philadelphia Inquirer titled "Chick Wit" which is a witty and fun take on life from a woman's perspective. These stories, along with many other never-before-published stories, have been collected in four books including their most recent, Have a Nice Guilt Trip, and the earlier, Meet Me at Emotional Baggage Claim, Best Friends, Occasional Enemies, Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog, which has been optioned for TV, and My Nest Isn't Empty, It Just Has More Closet Space. Lisa reviews popular fiction and non-fiction, and her reviews have appeared in New York Times, The Washington Post and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Lisa has served as President of Mystery Writers of America and has taught a course she developed, "Justice and Fiction" at The University of Pennsylvania Law School, her alma mater. Lisa is a regular and much sought after speaker at library and corporate events. Lisa has over 30 million copies of her books in print and is published in over 35 countries. She lives in the Philadelphia area with an array of disobedient pets, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

Francesca Serritella was born in Philadelphia, and grew up in its suburbs. She went to Harvard, where she majored in English. After a year or two of feeling entirely intimidated by the place, she found her stride and went on to receive the Charles Edmond Horman Prize and the Baron Russell Briggs Prize for creative writing. Her senior thesis, a novella, won the Thomas Temple Hoopes Prize, and she graduated with honors.

Her mother is Lisa Scottoline. She's a bestselling author, her best friend, and her hero. Together, they write a weekly humor column in The Philadelphia Inquirer called "Chick Wit." She contribute once a month to offer a younger perspective on their wacky family and life in general, and if you aren't an Inquirer subscriber, you can find a selection of her columns here. The column has been published as a series of collections of essays. The first and the second, Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog, and My Nest Isn't Empty, It Just Has More Closet Space, have some of her essays but not her name on it. The third, fourth, and fifth, Best Friends, Occasional Enemies, Meet Me at Emotional Baggage Claim and Have a Nice Guilt Trip, have her name on the cover!

Currently, she live in New York City with her dog, Pip. When she’s not writing, she’s probably taking cell phone pictures of Pip and marveling at how cute he is, so if you want to see those, he has his very own page here.

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Lisa Facebook * Lisa Twitter * Francesca Facebook * Francesca Twitter

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Does This Beach Make Me Look Fat

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My Very Best Friend - 12 Things About Cathy & A Giveaway

From a childhood friendship sustained over years and distance, to a journey of discovery, Cathy Lamb’s poignant novel tells of two women whose paths converge with unforeseen results—and reveals the gift of connection, and the challenges that can change everything for the better…
 
Charlotte Mackintosh is an internationally known bestselling romance writer who has no romance, and remains a mystery to her fans. In fact, she has little in her life besides her work, her pampered cats, and her secluded home off the coast of Washington. And then there is her very best friend, Bridget, who lives in Scotland, where Charlotte lived until she was fifteen. Bridget, whom Charlotte hasn’t seen in twenty years, but continues to write to—though the replies have stopped. Hurt by the silence, an opportunity arises to find answers—and maybe much more.
 
Charlotte must finally return to Scotland to sell her late father’s cottage. It was his tragic death when Charlotte was fifteen that began her growing isolation, and the task is fraught with memories. But her plans are slowed when she’s confronted with the beautiful but neglected house, the irresistible garden—and Toran, Bridget’s brother. Capable and kind, Toran has the answers Charlotte seeks. And as she is drawn deeper into the community she thought she’d left behind, Charlotte learns not only more about her dear friend, but about herself—and discovers a new and unexpected path. 

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“12 Things About Cathy Lamb”

1)      I have a high school reunion coming up. I have to lose twenty five pounds in 37 days.  I think I’ll bake some brownies and think about how I’m going to complete the impossible.

2)      I’ve been married for 22 years.  I met my husband on a blind date. The man who set us up was an undercover vice cop. I’d known the cop since I was about eleven years old. He busted people bringing drugs up the I -  5 freeway and was one tough dude.  My husband tells people he was being arrested when he met the undercover vice cop and the cop suggested a date with me. Don’t believe him. My husband has an odd sense of humor.

3)      I drink a decaf mocha every day. It’s my “Life Treat.” I acknowledge that the mochas aren’t helping me for the reunion.

4)      I have a strong loner streak. I can’t be with people all the time. I have to be ALONE so I can think. My ability to be friendly and social lasts about three hours. After that, I’m toast. 

5)      We have a cat named KC. She meows at me. I meow back. If I don’t  meow back, she keeps meowing.  I’m sure I look ridiculous meowing at my cat, but I do it anyhow so as not to hurt her feelings.

6)      I was in Scotland in October going “research” for my new novel, “My Very Best Friend.” The “research” included eating my way through the village I was in, and Edinburgh. It was delicious research. I am good at eating.

7)      When I was in Scotland I saw men in kilts. Handsome men. I wanted to flip the kilts up, but I refrained.  I showed admirable restraint in that regard.  I still don’t know if they go commando or not. I ponder this now and then.

8)      I have insomnia. I have to read at night until my kindle hits me in the face. No reading, no sleeping.

9)      I have a wild imagination.  I love to spend hours daydreaming.

10)   I love Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.  I also love Back in Black by AC/DC. I don’t hear the similarities between them at all, but there it is.

11)   I would like to spend part of every year in Montana wearing cowgirl boots.

12)   I am a terrible skier. My husband says that I am the only person who can stand still on skis and still make turns.  This is his way of saying that I am scared of speed. He’s right.

About the Author:

Cathy Lamb lives in Oregon. She has noisy children. She likes to read and write.  She does not like to clean the house. Soooo boring. Her husband says she “cooks by fire alarm.” As in, when the fire alarm goes off, that’s when she remembers to take the dinner out of the oven.  Cathy is working on her tenth novel.

   

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My Very Best Friend by Cathy Lamb

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