Christmas Chocolat - Review & Giveaway

Review by Marlene Engel

The Christmas season used to mean festive meals and holiday traditions for the Arnaud children.  But when their mother passed, so did those events.  And with that came the distance that their father put between them.  Now, all grown up, they are surprised when they are summoned by their father to gather as a family under one roof.  None desires to return to Philadelphia, but even as adults, and after all the time that’s passed, they still know not to deny their father.

Each sibling is dealing with their own set of issues.  And to call the family dysfunctional is putting it lightly.  But as they come together, they reconnect on events of the past and fill each other in on the happenings of each of their lives.  Emotions will be high during this reunion, but when their father drops a bomb on them, the true reason behind this reunion, this difficult situation gets a million times tougher.  Just at the siblings start to mend their past, will their father’s secret be the final nail in the coffin to push them away for good?

I really enjoyed this book.  With a cast of flawed characters, a story that will move you and delicious recipes, this is the perfect book to get you into the holiday spirit.

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About the author:

Kate Defrise grew up in the United States but spent summers with her family in Belgium, where she learned that great food was a catalyst to a great life. She earned her degree in translation in French and Italian from the Ecole d’Interprètes Internationaux in Mons. She worked as a translator and teacher in Belgium before moving to France, where she did a stint in radio and television. She lives and cooks in San Diego with her husband, two daughters, and a cat.Christmas Chocolat is her first novel.

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Christmas Chocolat by Kate Defrise

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Shadow Play - Promo & Giveaway

Eve Duncan: the most sought-after artist in the field of forensic sculpting. Dedicated to her work ever since her daughter Bonnie was taken and killed at the age of seven, Eve feels a sense of duty to those whose lives were lost and whose bones are now in her hands.

When a sheriff in California contacts her with a request for help on the reconstruction of the skull of a girl whose body has been buried for eight years, his fierce investment in the case puzzles her. But when Eve finds herself experiencing an unusual connection with the girl she calls Jenny, she becomes entangled in the case more intensely than she could have ever imagined. Not since Bonnie has Eve had such an experience, and suddenly she finds herself determined to solve the murder and bring closure to the crime.

When the killer discovers that Eve Duncan is on the case, he begins to move in. First, eliminating those most remotely involved. Then, targeting those more closely tied to Jenny. And he won't rest until anything and anyone that could reveal his identity is eliminated-but even that won't satisfy him. He wants something more. He wants something more. One girl escaped from him. And she is his ultimate prize...

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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.

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Shadow Play by Iris Johansen

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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?

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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.

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BIG GIRL PANTIES by Stephanie Evanovich

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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.

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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.

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Reading the Sweet Oak by Jan Stites

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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.

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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.

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Come Away With Me by Karma Brown

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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