Rome In Love - Review, 12 Things About ... & Giveaway

Review by Marlene Engel

Cast as the lead role of Audrey Hepburn in the remake of Roman Holiday, Amelia Tate will be spending the next two months in Rome.  Although a dream come true, her acting career has put a strain on her relationship. 

Jetlagged and having consumed too much champagne, Amelia is eager to get out of her gown and walk the streets of Rome.  Knowing that the paparazzi will be hot on her heels, she changes out of her fancy clothes and into a maid’s uniform to go incognito. 

While out, she meets an American journalist named Philip.  Withholding her true identity, she allows him to believe that she is a maid.  It’s after their paths continue to cross, and her boyfriend’s surprise visit ends with an ultimatum of her having to choose her career or her relationship, Amelia starts to develop feelings for Philip.  Wanting to reveal her true identity, but never finding the right time, she continues her deceit.  But Philip isn’t without fault.  He too is holding back truths from Amelia. 

Sophie is a princess who has snuck away from her royal family and is spending six weeks living a normal life.  She, too, is actively avoiding any recognition and engrossing herself in her short-lived freedom.  Arranged to be married, she is surprised with the feelings she’s starting to develop for a handsome doctor that she befriends.  Caught between wanting to do right by her family and following her heart, Sophie is at a cross roads. 

With a cast of amazing characters, a storyline that will have you fully enthralled and set in the luxurious city of Rome, Anita Hughes takes you on an amazing voyage.  Destined to be the top summer read, this book is sure to please!

Purchase the book at:

Amazon * Barnes&Noble

“12 Things About Anita Hughes”

1) I live at the beach. This is probably one of the things that make me happiest. I love seeing the ocean when I walk.

2) I adore frozen yogurt - my whole family does so it is a daily ritual to get frozen yogurt after dinner.

3) I studied French in college and read all the great nineteenth century French authors.

4) My favorite author of all time is Somerset Maugham. I think you can learn everything you need to know from his books.

5) My second favorite author is probably George Eliot. I remember reading The Mill on The Floss in college and being mesmerized.

6) I love coffee - so I would be happy spending all my time sitting at an outdoor cafe in Rome, drinking espresso and people watching.

7) I wear flip-flops most of the time but I do love a beautiful pair of shoes.

8) I grew up in Sydney, Australia - near Bondi Beach. (another wonderful beach).

9) My favorite actress is Audrey Hepburn. I watched all her movies to research Rome In Love and especially loved Roman Holiday and Two For The Road.

10) My favorite actor is Cary Grant. He has the most amazing voice.

11) I have five children.

12) And of course, I love chocolate. Who doesn't?

About the Author:

Anita Hughes was born in Sydney, Australia and had a charmed childhood that included petting koala bears, riding the waves on Bondi Beach, and putting an occasional shrimp on the barbie. Her writing career began at the age of eight, when she won a national writing contest in THE AUSTRALIAN newspaper, and was named "One of Australia's Next Best Writers." (She still has the newspaper clipping.)

She received a B.A. in English Literature with a minor in Creative Writing from Bard College, and attended UC Berkeley's Masters in Creative Writing program.

She lives in Dana Point, CA with her family, where she interrupts her writing to watch the glorious sunsets.

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

Rome In Love by Anita Hughes

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Rainy Day Sisters - Giveaway

Welcome to Hartley-by-the-Sea in England’s beautiful Lake District, where two sisters who meet as strangers find small miracles tucked into the corners of every day....

When Lucy Bagshaw’s life in Boston falls apart, thanks to a scathing editorial written by her famous artist mother, she accepts her half sister Juliet’s invitation to stay with her in a charming seaside village in northern England. Lucy is expecting quaint cottages and cream teas, but instead finds that her sister is an aloof host, the weather is wet, windy, and cold, and her new boss, Alex Kincaid, is a disapproving widower who only hired her as a favor to Juliet.

Despite the invitation she offered, Juliet is startled by the way Lucy catapults into her orderly life. As Juliet faces her own struggles with both her distant mother and her desire for a child, her sister’s irrepressible optimism begins to take hold. With the help of quirky villagers, these hesitant rainy day sisters begin to forge a new understanding…and find in each other the love of family that makes all the difference.

Purchase the book at:

Amazon * Barnes&Noble

About the Author:

Kate was born in Pennsylvania, went to college in Vermont, and has spent summers in the Canadian wilderness. After several years as a diehard New Yorker, she now lives in the lovely Cotswolds in England with her husband, five young children, and an overly affectionate Golden Retriever.

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NAL is giving one lucky winner a print copy of

Rainy Day Sisters by Kate Hewitt

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The Canterbury Sisters - Review & Giveaway

Review by KT Sullivan

Che Milan’s longtime boyfriend dumps her in a letter shortly after her mother, Diana, dies. To fulfill a promise to her, Che embarks on a pilgrimage from London to Canterbury Cathedral like the characters in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. She joins a tour group of American women, Broads Abroad, walking the sixty miles. The shrine is thought to be the site of miracles fulfilled and the women decide to tell stories on their journey. Some are true, others false. Some are famous stories, others too painfully personal. Love, loss, regret, and funny, everyone listens and shares. One’s story asks a question: “What does a woman desire?” It’s a loaded question and not easily answered. The storyteller says sovereignty: the ability to chart one’s own course and lead the life she wants. All agree the power to choose one’s own path is essential. Many wish they had chosen a different road, but life goes on.

The stories are interesting and very relatable to any woman. The saddest was Steffi’s story regarding weight and the merciless scale with its needle that never moves, no matter how much she sacrifices. Becca is a teenager on the trip with her mom. She says, “virgins are unchosen.” At her age, boyfriends are the sign of achievement. First kisses are the stories her peers swap. The age range between the women on the journey spans sixty years. Many life experiences shared and discussed. Excellent read.

Purchase the book at:

Amazon * Barnes&Noble

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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Gallery Books is giving 1 lucky winner a print copy of

The Canterbury Sisters by Kim Wright

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The Witch of Bourbon Street - Review #SRC2015

Review by Marlene Engel

Set in the bayou of New Orleans, this book seamlessly goes from past to present as the Sorrow family seeks healing, forgiveness and moving on. The women in the Sorrow family come from a long line of seers, witches and healers.  In 1901 is when their suffering started with Sister Vesta Grace’s confession.  It was rumored that she had something to do with the death of all but one member of the once well-known Sorrow family.  However, some believed that it was Rosella, the voodoo witch.  For over a century, this mystery goes unsolved. 

Frances Sorrow was looked at as the person who would bring back the honor to the Sorrow family.  However, she had other thoughts.  Instead she took off and had a short lived marriage to Danny Amore.  When she returned home, she was introverted and kept away from the outside world.  Then, her son disappears.  As she goes in search of finding her son, she comes on secrets that tell of the mysteries of the past while also setting free the ghosts that haunt the family.

The Witch of Bourbon Street is a magical story about family and forgiveness.  With a cast full of amazing characters and a story that will draw you in from the first page, this book is one for your To-Be-Read List.

Purchase the book at:

Amazon * Barnes&Noble

About the Author:

Suzanne Palmieri is the internationally bestselling author of The Witch of Little Italy, The Witch of Belladonna Bay, and The Witch of Bourbon Street. She is the co-author of I’ll Be Seeing You and Empire Girls as Suzanne Hayes. Her novels have been translated into five different languages and have earned stars from Kirkus and Booklist. She lives in a haunted farm house by the ocean with her husband and three darling witches, and is currently hard at work on her next novel. 

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Up To I Do - Promo & Giveaway

About the Book

Emerson Sinclair, twenty-seven year old hotel heiress, has said yes. With just over a year to plan her extravagant, over the top nuptials to Logan Worthington, it’s all hands on deck with the wedding plans. A Sinclair marrying into the Worthington family is the talk of their small New Hampshire town, and ideas include filming the wedding for a TV segment. But as the items get checked off the list, plans start to go ... not as planned. From not getting a designer dress to a selfish bridesmaid and unaccountable best man, Emerson is afraid her wedding will be more a joke than anything. 

When both her mother and sister seemingly begin to lose interest in her wedding plans in favor of their own personal lives, Emerson fears her big day will turn into the forgotten wedding. With the pressure to pull off a beautiful and elegant event that everyone expects from their respectable families, Emerson starts to forget the reason why she is saying I Do in the first place.

                                                                                                                  

Book Links

Amazon * Barnes&Noble * Kobo

Author Bio

Samantha March is an author, editor, publisher, blogger, and all-around book lover. She runs the popular book/women’s lifestyle blog ChickLitPlus, which keeps her bookshelf stocked with the latest reads and up-to-date on all things health, fitness, fashion, and beauty related. In 2011, she launched her independent publishing company, Marching Ink, and has four published novels—Destined to Fail, The Green Ticket, A Questionable Friendship, and Up To I Do. When she isn’t reading, writing, or blogging, you can find her cheering for the Green Bay Packers. Samantha lives in Iowa with her husband and Vizsla puppy.

Connect with the author at:

Website* Blog* Facebook * Twitter* Instagram* Youtube

Samantha is giving away a $10 Gift Card to each of the following:

Amazon, Target, Ulta & Bed, Bath & Beyond

$40 Total!

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Pretty Much Screwed - 12 Things About Jenna & A Giveaway

Known for her “hilarious and spot-on”* memoirs I’ve Still Got It…I Just Can’t Remember Where I Put It and If It Was Easy, They’d Call the Whole Damn Thing a Honeymoon, Jenna McCarthy turns her comedic talents to fiction with a novel about picking yourself up out of the gutter when life kicks you to the curb…

“I don’t love you anymore.”

For Charlotte Crawford, the worst part about being dumped after twenty years of marriage is that her husband, Jack, doesn’t want another woman; he just doesn’t want her.

Forty-two and clueless, Charlotte is a fish out of water in a dating pool teeming with losers. Just when she thinks she’s finally put her failed marriage behind her, it comes back to bite her in the ass…hard. Without warning, Charlotte finds herself staring down the barrel of a future she wouldn’t (she would totally) wish on her worst enemy.

Engaging, fearless, and relentlessly funny, Pretty Much Screwed is a story of love, loss, friendship, forgiveness, turtledoves, taxidermy, and one hilariously ill-placed tick.

Purchase the book at:

Amazon * Barnes&Noble

“12 Things About Jenna McCarthy”

1.    In a long-ago life, I was an FM radio DJ. The highlight of that career was probably the time I pumped breast milk on the air. That or having my giant face plastered across the backs of buses all over town. You can choose for me.

2.    If someone is going to get hurt doing something, it will be me. My husband calls me Grace because of this. 

3.    I have three tattoos: a dolphin on my ankle that I got in Amsterdam when I was 20, before tattoos were even really a thing unless you were in a motorcycle gang; a sun on my hip bone that I got with my dad when I came back from Amsterdam and he was pissed that “his daughter got a tattoo before he did” (he got an anchor on his arm); and an anchor on my foot, because he died way too young and I miss him all day every day so it makes me happy.

4.    I have to walk on the left side of people. This doesn’t seem to bother anyone I know except my husband. Go figure.

5.    My guilty pleasure is America’s Funniest Videos. There, I said it.

6.    I can recite, flawlessly and on command, the Pythagorean Theorem, the Letter of Paul to the Philippians I delivered on parent’s day in third grade, the complete list of English prepositions in alphabetical order (aboard, about, above, across, after, against, along, amid, among…) and the entire “is this a dagger which I see before me” soliloquy I memorized in high school. Ironically, I can never, ever find my phone, my keys or my car in the parking lot at Trader Joe’s.

7.    I am destined to become a crazy old cat lady. 

8.    I went on a few dates with the guy who played Skippy on Family Ties. When he left town, I gave him my favorite FSU sweatshirt. I’m positive he still has it.

9.    I hate Halloween but I love costume parties.

10.I drink coffee through a straw, and no, it’s not because I’m concerned about white teeth. (Not that I’m not concerned about them; that’s just not why I drink coffee through a straw. I have no idea why I do it, in fact. I’m sure therapy could shed some light on this.)

11.My husband and I bought and renovated a house and the whole thing was documented on TV. That was in 2006 and the damned show still airs with unsettling frequency.

12.If I wasn’t a writer, I’d be a professional organizer or an interior decorator. Or a mermaid.

Author bio:

Jenna McCarthy is the internationally published writer of I’ve Still Got It…I Just Can’t Remember Where I Put It, If It Was Easy, They'd Call the Whole Damn Thing a Honeymoon, and The Parent Trip, former radio personality, and recovering leopard-print addict. She lives in Santa Barbara, California, with her husband, two daughters, and lots of dog and cat hair.

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Berkley is giving one lucky winner a print copy of

Pretty Much Screwed by Jenna McCarthy

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The Road Home - Review #SRC2015

Blurb:

Living separately for three years, fourteen-year-old twins, Katherine and Tommy Arthur, have done their best to make each boarding house feel like home. But unrest grows as they are driven to questionable actions just to survive. Meanwhile their desperate mother is confronted with breaking yet another promise to her children. Then a miracle descends. Hope rises on a cold, rainy night and changes everything. If Jeanie could just get word to Katherine and Tommy, she knows she can set their lives right again. Agitators, angels, and dangerous “saviors” illuminate the Arthurs’ unmatched determination and smarts. 1905—Though she tries to forget the awful years that hurt so much, the memories still haunt Katherine. Now, tearful mourners at her mother’s funeral force her to revisit a time in her life that both harmed and saved her in the most unexpected ways. Tommy grieves his mother’s passing as well. He too is thrust backward, compelled to rediscover the events in his life that shaped the man he has become. Will he commit to reconstructing his broken life? The Arthurs come to understand that forgiveness is the only way back to hope, the only way to find all that was good in the misfortune that transformed their lives forever.

Review by Marlene Engel

In the highly anticipated sequel to The Last Letter, The Road Home follows the relationship between Jeanie Arthur and her children, Katherine and Tommy.  Set in the turn of the nineteenth to twentieth centuries, this book is about life, love, struggle and hope. 

Raising her children alone, Jeanie has to make some difficult decisions to ensure that both of her children are being cared for.  However, at that time there were limited options and she had to do what she felt was best for her family.  Even if that meant her children were to be separated and sent to other homes.  We follow each of their lives, learn the struggles and pain they had to endure and watch as they find strength where they thought none was to be found. 

An amazing book for historical fiction lovers.  The Road Home will have you on the edge of your seat in anticipation of what’s going to happen next. 

Purchase the book at:

Amazon * Barnes&Noble

About the Author:

Bestselling author Kathleen Shoop holds a PhD in reading education and has more than 20 years of experience in the classroom. Her third novel, Love and Other Subjects, earned a Silver medal in the Independent Publisher Book Awards and received an Honorable Mention from the San Francisco Book Festival. Her second novel, After the Fog (Silver IPPY), was a category finalist in the 2013 Eric Hoffer Book Awards. Her debut novel, The Last Letter, is a multiple award-winner, including a Gold Medal in the Independent Publisher Book Awards.

Kathleen has been featured in USA Today and the Writer’s Guide to 2013. Her work has appeared in The Tribune-Review, four Chicken Soup for the Soul books, and Pittsburgh Parent magazine. She lives in Oakmont, Pennsylvania with her husband and two children. 

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