Book Mama Blog

About the Author:

IRIS JOHANSEN is The New York Times bestselling author of Your Next Breath, The Perfect Witness, Live to See Tomorrow, Silencing Eve, Hunting Eve, Taking Eve, Sleep No More, What Doesn't Kill You, Bonnie, Quinn, Eve, Chasing The Night, Eight Days to Live, Blood Game, Deadlock, Dark Summer, Pandora's Daughter, Quicksand, Killer Dreams, On The Run, Countdown, Firestorm, Fatal Tide, Dead Aim, and more. And with her son Roy Johansen, she has coauthored The Naked Eye, Sight Unseen, Close Your Eyes, Shadow Zone, Storm Cycle, and Silent Thunder.

Johansen began writing after her children left home for college. She first achieved success in the early 1980s writing category romances. In 1991, Johansen began writing suspense historical romance novels, starting with the publication of The Wind Dancer. In 1996 Johansen switched genres, turning to crime fiction, with which she has had great success. She had seventeen consecutive New York Times bestsellers as of November 2006.

Johansen lives near Atlanta, Georgia and is married. Her son, Roy Johansen, is an Edgar Award-winning screenwriter and novelist. Her daughter, Tamara, serves as her research assistant.

Connect with the author at:

Website* Facebook * Twitter

St. Martin’s Press is giving one lucky winner a print copy of

Shadow Play by Iris Johansen

Thursday, September 24, 2015

The Sweet Spot - Book Tour & Giveaway

The Sweet Spot
By: Stephanie Evanovich

Releasing Sept 29^th, 2015

Mass Market Paperback

Blurb

The amazing Stephanie Evanovich returns with The Sweet Spot, the sizzling story of everyone’s favorite couple from her New York Times bestseller Big Girl Panties: hunky professional baseball player Chase Walker and his sassy wife Amanda

When pro baseball player Chase Walker first meets Amanda at her restaurant, it’s love at first sight. While Amanda can’t help noticing the superstar with the Greek-god-build, he doesn’t have a chance of getting to first—or any other—base with her. A successful entrepreneur who’s built her business from scratch, Amanda doesn’t need a Prince Charming to sweep her off her feet. And a curvy girl who likes to cook and eat isn’t interested in being around the catty, stick-thin herd of females chasing Chase and his teammates.

But Chase isn’t about to strike out. A man who isn’t interested in playing the field, he’s a monogamist who wants an independent woman like Amanda. His hopes rally when she discovers that squeaky-clean Chase has a few sexy and very secret pre-game rituals that turn the smart, headstrong businesswoman on—and into his number one fan.

Then a tabloid discovers the truth and turns their spanking good fun into a late- night punch-line. Is Amanda ready to let loose and swing for the fences? Or will the pressure of Chase’s stardom force them to call it quits?

Buy Ebook: Amazon | B & N | iTunes | Kobo

Buy Paperback: Amazon | B & N | BAM

About the Author:

Stephanie Evanovich is a full-fledged Jersey girl from Asbury Park who began writing fiction while waiting for her cues during countless community theater projects. She attended New York’s School of Film and Television and acted in several improvisational troupes and a few small-budget movies, all in preparation for the greatest job she ever had, raising her two sons. Now a full-time writer, she’s an avid sports fan who holds a black belt in tae kwon do.

Connect with the author at:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | GoodReads

Enter to win one of three print copies of

BIG GIRL PANTIES by Stephanie Evanovich

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Reading the Sweet Oak - Giveaway

About the Book:

Along the banks of the Sweet Oak River, deep in the heart of the Ozarks, a romance novel book club takes five women on stunning journeys of self-discovery. After losing first her husband, then her daughter, seventy-eight-year-old grandmother Ruby wants to teach her risk-averse granddaughter, Tulsa, that some leaps are worth taking, no matter how high the potential fall. Tulsa loves her grandmother dearly, but she has a business to run and no time for romance―not even the paperback version. But when Ruby ropes her into a book club, Tulsa can’t bring herself to disappoint the woman who raised her. Together with Ruby’s best friend, Pearl, as well as family friends BJ and Jen, the women embark on an exploration of modern-day love guided by written tales of romance. What they discover is a beautiful story that examines the bonds of friendship and the highs and lows of love in all its forms.

Purchase the book at:

About the Author:

Jan Stites has been a screenwriter, a screenwriting instructor, a waitress, a secretary, a middle school teacher in both inner-city and affluent schools, a scuba dive travel writer, a journalist, a transcriptionist for doctors and for documentary filmmakers, and a volunteer teacher in Kenya and the Yucatan. She considers the affirmative action plan she wrote for a maritime company to be perhaps her greatest work of fiction. Edgewise, set in a gritty Oakland setting, is Jan's debut novel. She's currently hard at play writing her next different book--a romantic comedy set in the Ozarks. Scheduled for release in the spring of 2014, Reading the Sweet Oak is a different, much lighter book involving small towns, good friends, rivers, herons and love in many forms.

Connect with the author at:

BookSparks is giving one lucky winner a print copy of

Reading the Sweet Oak by Jan Stites

US only

Monday, September 21, 2015

Come Away With Me - Review & Giveaway

An unexpected journey leads one woman to discover that life after loss is possible, if only you can find the courage to let go…

One minute, Tegan Lawson has everything she could hope for: an adoring husband, Gabe, and a baby on the way. The next, a patch of black ice causes a devastating accident that will change her life in ways she never could have imagined.

Tegan is consumed by grief—not to mention her anger toward Gabe, who was driving on the night of the crash. But just when she thinks she's hit rock bottom, Gabe reminds her of their Jar of Spontaneity, a collection of their dream destinations and experiences, and so begins an adventure of a lifetime.

From the bustling markets of Thailand to the flavors of Italy to the ocean waves in Hawaii, Tegan and Gabe embark on a journey to escape the tragedy and search for forgiveness. But they soon learn that grief follows you no matter how far away you run, and that acceptance comes when you least expect it. Heartbreaking, hopeful and utterly transporting, Come Away with Me is an unforgettable debut and a luminous celebration of the strength of the human spirit.

On Christmas Eve, newlyweds Tegan and Gabe are riding in the car when they hit a patch of black ice. Gabe loses control of the car and Tegan loses the baby she’s carrying. Tegan, depressed, blames Gabe for the death of their unborn child and threatening to put an end to their marriage. Desperate to keep their marriage intact, Gabe suggests that they draw three locations from the Jar of Spontaneity that they have. His hope is that some time away together would help to heal their pain and bring the pair back to the closeness they felt before the tragedy. And so begins their journey to Hawaii, Thailand and Italy.

The author takes you on an emotional journey of loss and heartache. And shows how a couple struggles to stay together after tragedy hits. She writes with such detail that you feel as if you’ve been transported into the story and are watching the events as they unfold. Toward the end of the book, you get hit with a twist that you never would’ve expected.

Emotional, powerful, and raw … this book will take you on an adventure of loss, heartache and their road to recovery.

Purchase the book at:

About the Author:

KARMA BROWN is an award-winning journalist and freelance writer, who probably spends too much time on her laptop in coffee shops. When not writing, she can be found running with her husband, coloring (outside the lines) with her daughter, or baking yet another batch of banana muffins. Karma lives just outside Toronto with her family. COME AWAY WITH ME is her first novel.

Connect with the author at:

TLC Book Tours is giving one lucky winner a print copy of

Come Away With Me by Karma Brown

US/Canada Only

Friday, September 18, 2015

Orphan #8 - Promo & Giveaway

Summary:

In this stunning new historical novel inspired by true events, Kim van Alkemade tells the fascinating story of a woman who must choose between revenge and mercy when she encounters the doctor who subjected her to dangerous medical experiments in a New York City Jewish orphanage years before.

In 1919, Rachel Rabinowitz is a vivacious four-year-old living with her family in a crowded tenement on New York City’s Lower Eastside. When tragedy strikes, Rachel is separated from her brother Sam and sent to a Jewish orphanage where Dr. Mildred Solomon is conducting medical research. Subjected to X-ray treatments that leave her disfigured, Rachel suffers years of cruel harassment from the other orphans. But when she turns fifteen, she runs away to Colorado hoping to find the brother she lost and discovers a family she never knew she had.

Though Rachel believes she’s shut out her painful childhood memories, years later she is confronted with her dark past when she becomes a nurse at Manhattan’s Old Hebrews Home and her patient is none other than the elderly, cancer-stricken Dr. Solomon. Rachel becomes obsessed with making Dr. Solomon acknowledge, and pay for, her wrongdoing. But each passing hour Rachel spends with the old doctor reveal to Rachel the complexities of her own nature. She realizes that a person’s fate—to be one who inflicts harm or one who heals—is not always set in stone.

Lush in historical detail, rich in atmosphere and based on true events, Orphan #8 is a powerful, affecting novel of the unexpected choices we are compelled to make that can shape our destinies.

Purchase the book at:

About the Author:

Kim van Alkemade is the author of the historical fiction novel Orphan #8 (William Morrow August 4, 2015). Her creative nonfiction essays have appeared in literary journals including Alaska Quarterly Review, CutBank, and So To Speak. Born in New York, NY, she earned a BA in English and History from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and an MA and PhD in English from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She is a Professor in the English Department at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania where she teaches writing. She lives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

She spent eight years researching and writing Orphan #8. It all began with her interest in the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York, the institution in which her grandfather, Victor Berger, and his brothers, Charlie and Seymour, grew up. Her great grandmother, Fannie Berger, worked at the orphanage, first as a domestic and later as a counselor. Many of the characters and events in Orphan #8 were inspired by her family history.

Connect with the author at:

WilliamMorrow Paperbacks is giving one lucky winner a print copy of

Orphan #8 by Kim van Alkemade

US only

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Broken Homes & Gardens - Review

Summary:

A girl, a guy, a broken-down house. Not exactly on-again, off-again, Malcolm and Joanna are in-again, out-again: in love, out of each other’s arms, in an awkward co-living arrangement, out of the country. Their unconventional relationship is the only way, Joanna says, to protect herself from the specter of commitment, which inevitably leads to heartbreak.

When Harry Met Sally for the Millennial generation, set in the damp and drizzly neighborhoods of Portland, Oregon, Broken Homes and Gardens is an ode to friendship, lust, and the unrelenting pull of love.

Purchase the book at:

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

Review by Marlene Engel

The connection that Joanna and Malcolm have from the second that they meet at a party is obvious. But when he leaves for a couple years to go off to the Peace Corps, they agree to date other people. When Malcolm returns home, Joanna has moved on, but her heart can never fully break away from Malcolm’s.

Coming from a broken home, Joanna fears getting too close to someone. The thought of potentially having to deal with divorce again is a pain she never wants to relive. So, in her mind, it’s easier to just date and not fully commit.

Malcolm doesn’t want to get tied down to one person. But when he finds himself in love, even when that’s the last thing he wants to be in, they tend to suppress their true feelings. They may feel that by hiding how they really feel that they’re preventing heartache, but it ends up causing more problems than they thought.

What I love about this book is that the characters are perfectly flawed. Both in their twenties, they want to be in relationships but don’t seem to have the proper tools to get there. Full of funny, and at times cringe worthy moments, the author takes us on their romantic journey that for every step forward, there are two steps back.

About the Author:

Rebecca Kelley grew up in Carson City, Nevada, wandered for a few years, and eventually landed in Portland, where she teaches writing at Oregon College of Art and Craft. She is the co-author of The Eco-nomical Baby Guide. Broken Homes & Gardens is her first novel.

Connect with the author at:

Goodreads | Website | Twitter

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Lies and Other Acts of Love - Cover Reveal & Giveaway

Summary:

After sixty years of marriage and five daughters, Lynn “Lovey” White knows that all of us, from time to time, need to use our little white lies.

Her granddaughter, Annabelle, on the other hand, is as truthful as they come. She always does the right thing—that is, until she dumps her hedge fund manager fiancé and marries a musician she has known for three days. After all, her grandparents, who fell in love at first sight, have shared a lifetime of happiness, even through her grandfather’s declining health.

But when Annabelle’s world starts to collapse around her, she discovers that nothing about her picture-perfect family is as it seems. And Lovey has to decide whether one more lie will make or break the ones she loves . . .

LIES AND OTHER ACTS OF LOVE will grab you by the heart strings and pull hard. A perfect story about the lies we tell and the secrets we keep-- all in the name of love.” – Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke, authors of The Status of All Things and Your Perfect Life

“LIES AND OTHER ACTS OF LOVE by Kristy Woodson Harvey is a richly detailed, intergenerational tale of love, loss and loyalty. Harvey pulls the reader into the hearts and souls of her characters.” -- Heather Gudenkauf ~ New York Times bestselling author of The Weight of Silence

Purchase the book at:

About the Author:

Kristy Woodson Harvey is the author of Dear Carolina. She blogs at Design Chic about how creating a beautiful home can be the catalyst for creating a beautiful life and loves connecting with readers at kristywoodsonharvey.com. She is a Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's school of journalism and holds a Master's in English from East Carolina University. She is a regular contributor for The Salisbury Post, Domino magazine and Houzz. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and three-year-old son.

Connect with the author at:

To celebrate the LIES AND OTHER ACTS OF LOVE cover reveal, we are giving away three wonderful bundles of books penned by Tall PoppyWriters!

Book Bundle 1: MY VERY BEST FRIEND, Cathy Lamb; THE DOG YEAR, Ann Wertz Garvin; CONFESSIONS OF A PARIS PARTY GIRL, Vicki Lesage; VINTAGE, Susan Gloss; DEAR CAROLINA, Kristy Woodson Harvey; FUGITIVE COLORS, Lisa Barr

Book Bundle 2: THE COINCIDENCE OF COCONUT CAKE, Amy Guertin Reichert; CLOSE TO DESTINY, Adria Cimino; LEMONGRASS HOPE, Amy Impellizzeri; KEEP THE ENDS LOOSE, Molly Duncan Campbell; ROME IN LOVE, Anita Hughes; LITTLE BLACK LIES, Sandra Block

Book Bundle 3: THE MIDDLE OF SOMEWHERE, Sonja Yoerg; WAKING UP JOY, Tina Ann Forkner; WHILE YOU WERE GONE, Kate Moretti; THE BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS, Nicole Baart; ENTANGLEMENT, Katie Rose Guest Pryal; DEAR CAROLINA, Kristy Woodson Harvey