If You're Not The One - Review & Giveaway

Review by KT Sullivan

Jennifer Wright decides her life with husband Max is boring. “Is this it?” seems to be her attitude toward her life. She finds herself asking ‘what if’ questions. After an accident leaves her in a coma for a while, she reexamines the relationship decisions in her life. She recalls past boyfriends and imagines different outcomes. She’s having a midlife crisis based on romances lost and found. Will she find happiness or does she have it and doesn’t recognize it?

                                                                                                          

The story bounces around in time before and after her car accident plus recollections of the men in her life. Many women have wondered what happened to ‘the one’ from high school. Now, searching the Internet is standard procedure. I found the questions in the back of the book the most interesting part. One point is that changing a substantial part of your life has a ripple effect on everything. If Jennifer didn’t marry Max, she wouldn’t have her children, live in her house, or know certain people. Swapping out the guy doesn’t solve the ‘blandness,’ it creates different situations and problems. Depending on a spouse to make the other’s life happy or fun shifts the burden and takes away responsibility. There is a partnership aspect to marriage and a meeting in the middle of priorities.

This story delves into how to change an unhappy life. With hard work and effort, it must come from within.

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About the Author:

Becoming a Mum was a big life change.  But it wasn’t until my second baby was about six months old, that I unearthed my book which I’d written over the course of about three years whenever I’d been in between jobs (out of work). Taking a deep breath I sent it to a publisher and the day I got my book deal was one of the happiest of my life. These days I’m a single mum (with a lovely boyfriend) and am busy writing and presenting. My third book, If You’re Not the One, came out in February and the film rights have been optioned by Working Title Films. It is also coming out in the States in June 2015. Meanwhile, I have just finished my fourth book which is due out next spring and am currently brewing ideas for a fifth.

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If You’re Not The One

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It's You - Review & Giveaway

Review by Marlene Engel

Grieving the loss of her mother and untimely death of her fiancé, Dr. Alison McAdams’ life has been turned upside down.  Working at the dental practice of her fiance’s father, everything feels off to Ali.  This was the practice that her husband was supposed to be a partner of.  Her would be husband, if he didn’t commit suicide and leave himself hanging in their foyer for her to find.

When Ali learns of her father’s fall and injury to his arm, she uses this opportunity to spend more time with him, but at the same time get away from the painful memories that haunt her in Arizona.  But when she goes to Napa, she learns that there is so much about him that she didn’t know.  And, as she spends time with him and his friends, she gets a lesson about life that she wasn’t expecting.

But it’s the unexpected connection she makes with a cantankerous old woman named Edie that sets Ali on a journey to Berlin to learn more about the history and loss that Edie endured during the war.  And, in searching for answers about Edie, Ali learns a bit about herself.  And, although she can’t rewrite her past, she can make choices for her future.

I have read all of Jane Porter’s women’s fiction novels.  Although this had a different feel than her other books, it was just as heartfelt and moving.  Her focus on detail, especially her references to Edie’s life during the war, was so raw and honest.  You could feel the struggle and emotion in every word she wrote. 

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About the Author:

USA Today, and New York Times bestselling author of 47 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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It’s You (US Only)

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Five Days Left - Review & Giveaway

Review by Marlene Engel

In this emotionally charged book, it chronicles two couples going through life altering events.  Each one has five days left until their worlds will be rocked forever. 

Scott and his wife, Laurie, have been fostering eight year old Curtis while his mom fulfills her jail sentence.  Although they are expecting a child of their own soon, the pain of having to say goodbye to Curtis in a few short days is proving to be harder than Scott originally thought.  Knowing that Curtis will be reunited with his mom soon has Scott feeling mixed emotions and has causes a bit of tension between himself and his wife.  As she can’t fully understand how Scott can make a child, who is not of his blood, such a high priority.

Mara is a mother, wife and successful attorney.  Recently she has been showing signs of memory loss and her family and friends are getting concerned.  Reluctant to admit that she may have a medical condition, she agrees to see a specialist just to prove to her husband that he’s wrong in his concerns.  But when she receives a life-altering diagnosis, she’s not sure if she can, or wants to, live out the remainder of her life the way that others with the same condition has.  She has decided that, in five days, she’s going to take care of that. 

Five Days Left is a heart-wrenching story about love, loss, family and finding the strength to let go when all you really want to do is hold on tight. 

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About the Author:

Julie Lawson Timmer grew up in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband, their four teenage children and two rescued dogs. By turns, she is a writer, lawyer, mom/stepmom, fledgling practicer of Pilates, and dreadful cook. FIVE DAYS LEFT (Putnam 2014) is her first novel. Her second book, UNTETHERED, will be published by Putnam in 2016. 

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The Sound of Glass - Review & Giveaway

Review by KT Sullivan

Cal’s widow, Merritt Heyward, inherits his family home from his grandmother, Edith. Beaufort, South Carolina seems like a foreign country to the Maine native. Parts of the house haven’t been lived in and the rest needs a good cleaning. Wind chimes hang around the house and Merritt decides they should go. Her stepmother, Loralee, and half-brother Owen arrive uninvited for an extended stay. Cal’s brother, Gibbes, shows up looking for family mementos. He’s never met Merritt and is surprised such a wonderful woman married his ogre of a brother. Merritt doesn’t want all the company or the house. She’s trying to forget her father’s desertion and her horrible marriage. The house holds many secrets, mostly the contents of Edith’s attic. She was an abused wife and the day her husband died, a plane crashed in town. A suitcase landed in her yard. She opens it, finds a letter addressed to a dead man, answers his wife, and sets off a number of different consequences.

The story is told from Merritt’s, Edith’s, and Loralee’s points of view. All of these women have known heartbreak and disappointment. Edith’s is the most interesting. How she steps out from behind a shadow and gets enfolded into another one affects so many lives. Loralee keeps a journal of her mama’s sayings and thoughts for a bittersweet reason. Merritt is swept up into too much family drama and isn’t sure what to do. The wind chimes are a constant and handmade by Edith. Sea glass can withstand pressure and crashing up on shore. The three women take that lesson to heart and live through it. Uplifting story.

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Amazon * Barnes&Noble

About the Author:

Karen is a New York Times bestselling author and currently writes what she refers to as ‘grit lit’—southern women’s fiction—and has also expanded her horizons into writing a bestselling mystery series set in Charleston, South Carolina. Her eighteenth novel, A Long Time Gone, was published in June 2014 and debuted at #24 on the New York Times list. Her next novel, The Sound of Glass, will be published in May 2015 by New American Library, a division of PenguinRandomHouse Publishing Group.

Karen hails from a long line of Southerners but spent most of her growing up years in London, England and is a graduate of the American School in London. When not writing, she spends her time reading, scrapbooking, dancing, and avoiding cooking. She currently lives near Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and two children, and a spoiled Havanese dog (who appears in several of her books), Quincy.

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The Sound Of Glass by Karen White

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Wishful Thinking - Review & Giveaway

Review by Darcie Czajkowski

Have you ever wished that you could be in two places at once? Of course you have. Who hasn’t? In today’s fast-paced, social media-crazed society, sometimes we feel like we can’t do it all, have it all, be it all to everyone in our lives. Wouldn’t it be great if there were an app for that? A magical electronic tool that we could simply download onto our smart phone that would enable us to be everywhere we needed to be at once?

Say hello to Wishful Thinking, an app that allows a person to time travel in order to be in two (or more) places simultaneously. This is an app that divorced, working mother of two, Jennifer Sharpe, needs. After losing her phone and having it delivered to her doorstep with the app downloaded onto it, Jennifer is intrigued. Okay, at first she’s skeptical, but with the pressures of her job and the amount of attention that being the parent she wants to be demands of her, she quickly changes her stance on the matter and decides to give the app a try. What could it hurt?

Soon she is superwoman in all aspects of her life: at work, at home, and she even makes time for a personal life when she starts dating her son’s guitar teacher. But she also constantly forgets things, even more than she did before, relying on her phone to keep all aspects of her life in check. She’s exhausted from adding more hours into each day and feels the urge to push herself to add on even more obligations, reasoning that she can handle it all. More than anything, she never feels truly in the moment.

Despite these weighty downsides, Jennifer knows the app is essential to her survival. But what will her family and friends say when her worlds overlap and they realize that Jennifer’s been lying to everyone around her?

I adored Kamy Wicoff’s Wishful Thinking. We’ve all been in Jennifer’s shoes, trying to do it all. Life is busy and we all wish we could cram more hours into the day. But this story reminds us that there are only so many hours in a day for a reason. That everyone is just doing the best they can. That we should rally around our friends and family when they need help because one person can’t do it all. Kamy’s writing and story-telling are smooth and sharp, witty and friendly. I highly recommend this winning debut.

Purchase the book at:

Amazon * Barnes&Noble

About the Author:

Kamy Wicoff is the bestselling author of the nonfiction book I Do but I Don’t: Why the Way We Marry Matters. Wishful Thinking is her debut novel.

She is the cofounder of one of the world’s largest communities for women writers, www.shewrites.com. She is also cofounder, with Brooke Warner, of She Writes Press. She Writes and She Writes Press are part of the SparkPoint Studio family.

She lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York.

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Wishful Thinking by Kamy Wicoff

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Will You Accept This Final Rose - Review & Giveaway

Review by Melinda Garza

In Sean Lowe's For the Right Reasons, America's favorite bachelor on faith, love, marriage, and why nice guys finish first, he candidly reveals some of the challenges of finding his true love, being true to his faith, of his experiences of being in the ever popular The Bachelorette and The Bachelor, and of life after the show. 

Sean grew up in Texas. Like all boys who grow up in Texas, he was a football player. He wasn't your average football player, he excelled. After high school, Sean went on to play college football. His college football career did not turn into an NFL career. After returning home from college, he had a career that turned sour. Sean's family had a long history of selling insurance but that was the last thing he wanted to do. He ended up selling insurance and through it all, he always prayed and asked for guidance. His faith never steered him wrong. 

One day, his sister and brother in law submitted his name to The Bachelorette. He thought nothing of it when one day he was contacted by the show for additional casting procedures. On his journey to find love with Emily, the bachelorette, he was often called "perfect." Sean talks about the inner workings of the show and how his faith continued to keep him strong. He was blindsided when only two other guys were left on the show and Emily sent him home despite being prepared to be a husband and father. 

Following his stent on The Bachelorette, Sean was then selected to become the next bachelor. Sean goes on to discuss how the show brought him closer to his faith, how his faith continued to evolve, and how he was true to his convictions. Sean was able to find the love of his life, Catherine, on the show. They later wed.

After the show aired, Sean was a contestant on Dancing With The Stars. He managed to stay on the show a rather long time for someone who had no prior dance experience. Sadly, he did not win the season. His relationship with Catherine was rather difficult during that time but due to his faith and her beginning to walk with God again and welcoming Him into her life, they were able to sustain the turbulence they encountered. 

They now live in Texas, continue to expand on their faith wholeheartedly, and live happily with their two beloved dogs. 

Sean's honest story about his journey will captivate any reader and will keep you cheering that this "perfect" guy finishes first. I would say he did.

Purchase the book at:

Amazon * Barnes&Noble

About the Author:

Sean Lowe, one of the three finalists on Emily Maynard's popular season of The Bachelorette, later starred in the 2013 season of The Bachelor. Credited by the New York Times for "reinvigorating the franchise," he has been voted America's favorite Bachelor and is the only one to marry his match from the show. Sean and his bride, Catherine Giudici Lowe, live in Dallas, Texas, with their two dogs, Ellie and Lola.

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For The Right Reasons

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The Canterbury Sisters - 12 Things About Kim & A Giveaway

Blurb:

Che Milan’s life is falling apart. Not only has her longtime lover abruptly dumped her, but her eccentric, demanding mother has recently died. When an urn of ashes arrives, along with a note reminding Che of a half-forgotten promise to take her mother to Canterbury, Che finds herself reluctantly undertaking a pilgrimage.

Within days she joins a group of women who are walking the sixty miles from London to the shrine of Becket in Canterbury Cathedral, reputed to be the site of miracles. In the best Chaucer tradition, the women swap stories as they walk, each vying to see who can best describe true love. Che, who is a perfectionist and workaholic, loses her cell phone at the first stop and is forced to slow down and really notice the world around her, perhaps for the first time in years.

Through her adventures along the trail, Che finds herself opening up to new possibilities in life and discovers that the miracles of Canterbury can take surprising forms.

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Amazon * Barnes&Noble * BAM * Indie Bound

12 Things About Kim Wright

1.  My dad was an antique dealer and, thanks to him, I got the travel bug early.  I used to go into bookstores in foreign cities and look at the translations of American writers, dreaming that someday my books would be among them.  The most exciting part of publication for me has always been the international rights sales, and the thought that somebody in Prague or Seoul or Sydney might be reading the books I've written!

2.  The love of my life is my nutty little dog, Thad.  He's a rescue, so I don't know anything about his background or even how old he is, but he is a bundle of energy.  He went on the southern leg of my book tour with me last year and, since they're pet friendly, we stayed in an endless series of La Quintas. All the hotels look sort of alike, and we were switching to a new one every night, so by the end of the week I was wandering the halls, trying to remember where my room was!

3.  I have a phobia about large statues.  I can't stand to look at the Statue of Liberty.

4.  I'm kind of a reality tv junkie, especially when it comes to cooking competitions.  I love Chopped and my latest obsession is The Great British Baking Show.  It inspired me to buy my first springboard pan...but so far I haven't used it.  Cake baking is almost as scary as the Statue of Liberty.

5.  Mornings are my best times for focus.  I try to write 1000 words really early every day, when I'm fresh.  And then I finish my coffee, meditate, stretch, and walk Thad.  After that, even if the rest of the day falls apart - as it sometimes does - at least I know I have my thousand words.

6.  I am a competitive ballroom dancer.  I took it up as a hobby seven years ago and my dance studio was the inspiration for my second novel, The Unexpected Waltz.  Tango is my favorite dance.

7.  I'm an only child and my own two kids will tell you that I have NO tolerance for sibling fights.  When they would argue as kids, it would drive me nuts.  I don't get it.  Why would two people come to blows over half a candy bar?

8.  If I could be fluent in any language, I'd choose Italian.  I love the way it sounds.

9.  My son is a wine importer and my daughter is a writer who specializes in historical fiction.  And my granddaugher Martha, who is almost two, is the most brilliant, beautiful baby ever!

10.  One of the benefits of being a writer is that you can slop around the house all day in yoga pants - or no pants at all.  I can't tell you how many times I've gone to the park or the grocery and looked down to find my shirt buttoned wrong or even inside out.  I think the neighbors suspect I'm crazy. 

11.  My main advice to writers is:  Meet other writers.  Go to conferences and workshops, connect through social media, join a critique group, whatever it takes.  In my experience the writing community is extremely supportive and you need other writers to bounce ideas off and for networking once you get within the publishing community.  It's a strange and insular little world and no one should try to navigate it alone.

12.  To research The Canterbury Sisters, I actually walked the Canterbury Trail, from London to Canterbury Cathedral.  It's a broken trail, that goes across highways and private land, so I hired a guide, a wonderful woman named Jane Martin from Tours of the Realm travel.  She found me sustained pieces of the route and inns to stay in along the way.  This "research" (aka "this incredibly fun trip") gave me lots of detail for the novel.

About the Author:

Kim Wright is the author of Love in Mid Air and The Unexpected Waltz and has been writing about travel, food, and wine for more than twenty years for many magazines, including Wine Spectator, Self, Travel & Leisure, and Vogue. She has twice won the Lowell Thomas Award for travel writing. The Canterbury Sisters is her third novel, and she also ballroom dances competitively. Kim lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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The Canterbury Sisters by Kim Wright

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