giveaway: love in mid air

Thanks to Hachette, I have one copy of Kim Wright's Love in Mid Air to giveaway as part of the tour for the book!

Here's the link to my review. This is what Publishers Weekly said:
"Wright hits it out of the park in her debut, an engaging account of a woman contemplating divorce. Despite finally getting her husband, Phil, to attend counseling sessions with her, Elyse Bearden realizes her marriage is dead in the water. Though Phil's a doting father and a decent man, he's also the occasional jerk who snickers at his wife in lingerie and is generally indifferent to her. Elyse already knows she's going to leave her husband when she meets Gerry Kincaid and soon begins an affair that allows her to escape from the crushing banality of her suburban life. Serving as Elyse's foil is her beautiful best friend, Kelly, now married to an older, wealthy man. While the idea of housewives complaining about their husbands over lunch may strike some as a conventional hen-lit trope, Wright conveys friendships and the blasé everyday with authenticity and telling detail, while passages depicting Elyse's inner life are rife with the same wit and insight that infuse the dialogue. Though this story is one that readers may have seen many times before, Wright delivers fresh perspective and sympathetic characters few writers can match."

The rules: Enter by leaving a comment to this post with your email (if I can't contact you, you can't win). You can gain additional entries by leaving separate comments letting me know that you're a follower or have posted a link to the giveaway on your site. The deadline to enter is 11:59pm Pacific on April 10. Winners will be selected at random. Since this is from Hachette the winners must have mailing addresses in the US or Canada; no PO Boxes.

review and tour: love in mid air by kim wright

Toward the beginning of Love in Mid Air, one of the characters comments during a book club discussion that the difference between real life and novels is that in real life women stay in their unhappy marriages, but run off with a lover in novels. Although the statement clearly isn’t true (the divorce rate wouldn’t be so high if it was), it does set up what this novel will be about: Will Elyse stay with husband Phil or run off with Gerry, a man she had a chance encounter with on an airplane? That question kept me reading even as I hated some of the things Elyse did and didn’t always understand why she was so unhappy. The true downside to Love in Mid Air is the ending, which I obviously can’t discuss too much without spoiling it. A misunderstanding leads to violence that I never saw coming nor did I wish to have the author go down that road with so few pages left. It seemed a cheap way out.
4/5
ARC Review
Review copy provided by the publisher, Grand Central Publishing.

There's a giveaway with this tour. Also check out the other sites:
peekingbetweenthepages.blogspot.com
thedmlibrary.blogspot.com
frommipov.blogspot.com
redladysreadingroom-redlady.blogspot.com
bermudaonion.wordpress.com
rundpinne.com
buuklvr81.blogspot.com
luxuryreading.com
frugalplus.com
bookingmama.blogspot.com
therempels4.blogspot.com
froggaritasbookcase.net
foreigncircuslibrary.blogspot.com
masoncanyon.blogspot.com
popculturenerd.com
brokenteepee.blogspot.com
mgpblog.com
thecajunbooklady.blogspot.com
bellasnovella.com
maryinhb.blogspot.com
bookwormygirl.blogspot.com
bridget3420.blogspot.com
madhattermom.com
stacievaughansblog.blogspot.com
ilratb.blogspot.com
myfoolishwisdom.blogspot.com
sharon54220.wordpress.com
bibliophilicbookblog.com
acircleofbooks.blogspot.coom
memybookandthecouch.blogspot.com
madeleineatbooksandphotos.com
dixie-afewofmyfavoritethings.blogspot.com
booknaround.blogspot.com
psychoticstate.blogspot.com
bookinwithbingo.blogspot.com
inbedwithbooks.blogspot.com
blesstheirheartsmom.blogspot.com
dreyslibrary.blogspot.com

giveaway winners: how to never look fat again

Congratulations to couponmom and Tiffany who have won How to Never Look Fat Again. Enjoy!

giveaway: the river kings' road

As part of the tour for The River Kings' Road, Gallery Books is allowing me to giveaway one copy.

My review is linked here. This is the review from Publishers Weekly:
"Choices are at the heart of this impressive epic fantasy debut. Brys Tarnell, recently knighted, must decide whether to take on a company of murdering warriors or run and survive a massacre. When Brys tells Odosse of Willowfield that her village has just been razed, she must decide whether to travel with him, far from all she knows. Kelland, a holy knight of Cailan, and his companion, Bitharn, are given the choice of helping to foil an impending war or keeping vows of neutrality. Leferic the Mouse has already made a choice and now must deal with entirely unexpected consequences. Mercial has constructed an inspired new world where unexpected plot twists bedevil strong, clearly visualized characters, in a story that glints with intelligence and hums with life."

The rules: Enter by leaving a comment to this post with your email (if I can't contact you, you can't win). You can gain additional entries by leaving separate comments letting me know that you're a follower or have posted a link to the giveaway on your site. The deadline to enter is 11:59pm Pacific on April 10. Winner will be selected at random. Since this is from Gallery Books the winner must have mailing addresses in the US; no PO Boxes.

review and tour: the river kings' road by liane merciel

The River Kings’ Road begins with an ambush that leaves most of the village of Willowfield dead; however, the action primarily takes place in the distance away from the page as the author chooses to focus on Brys Tarnell, who has the good fortune to exit the church before the ambush occurs. Throughout the book, Liane Merciel continues to make choices like that, which means there’s a lot of “telling” rather than “showing.” A good portion of it is quite boring; yet there are sections that brought me back into the story and kept me intrigued. I frequently wanted to skim scenes, especially when Brys was without Odosse; on the other hand, I enjoyed reading about Odosse. She was forced to make hard decisions quickly and without the chance to mourn her dead relatives. In caring for her child and the sick heir who barely survived the attack that left his parents dead, Odosse proved herself an admirable woman, unlike the majority of the other characters who thought only of themselves. Although Leferic’s act of vengeance and his motivations were clichéd, I did find him an interesting character. I’m certain The River Kings’ Road would be more entertaining if it focused on two or three characters rather than constantly jumping to the various perspectives.
2/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Gallery Books.

You can win this book! Also, check out the other sites participating in the tour:
hip2bhomeschooling.blogspot.com
myfoolishwisdom.blogspot.com
cherylsbooknook.blogspot.com
stephthebookworm.blogspot.com
bridget3420.blogspot.com
bibliophilicbookblog.com
juniperrbreeeze.blogspot.com
jeannesramblings.com
mybookaddictionandmore.wordpress.com
brizmusblogsbooks.blogspot.com
takingtimeformommy.blogspot.com
masoncanyon.blogspot.com
ramblingsofacoffeeaddictedwrter.blogspot.com
melissawatercolor.blogspot.com
mandyfish-reads.blogspot.com
blogbusinessworld.blogspot.com
carolsnotebook.wordpress.com
lindsayphotobook.blogspot.com
maryinhb.blogspot.com
tweezlereads.blogspot.com
rundpinne.blogspot.com
dreyslibrary.blogspot.com
ziarias.blogspot.com
geekgirlreviews.com
http://startingfresh-gaby317.blogspot.com
lastexilewords.blogspot.com
templelibraryreviews.blogspot.com
moonsanity.blogspot.com
booksiesblog.blogspot.com
seemichelleread.blogspot.com
genrereviews.blogspot.com
mindingspot.blogspot.com
booktumbling.com
literarilyspeaking1.blogspot.com
booksrusonline.com
brendalovesbooks.blogspot.com
luckyrosiescreations.blogspot.com

review: white cat by holly black

At the center of White Cat are Cassel and a white cat that keeps appearing in his life. Cassel knows something strange is going on and that it might be connected to the cat, but he can’t begin to unravel what’s happening until he’s forced to live with his curse worker family after being kicked out of the school dorms for sleepwalking.

Initially I was a little lost as Holly Black doesn’t explain upfront what the deal is with curse workers; she writes White Cat as if curse workers are part of “the real world.” As more of the story unfolded and curse workers were organically explained, I grew to appreciate that Black didn’t go into a long setup. Besides, how could I not love a book starring a white cat? Though I am now eyeing my white cat a bit suspiciously wondering just what she might be plotting. The cat and all involving her (especially the plot to get her out of the shelter) kept me entertained. I also loved how Black repurposed history (such as the colonization of Australia) to fall in line with White Cat’s reality.
5/5
ARC Review
Review copy provided by the publisher, Margaret K. McElderry Books.

author interview: gwyn cready

This post contains affiliate links.

Gwyn Cready, the author of the hot new book Flirting with Forever, was gracious enough to take the time to answer a few questions.

Did you do much research on the 17th century for Flirting with Forever?

Hi, Nicole. Let me start by saying thank you for having me over to your blog today. I do do quite a bit of research--nothing by academic standards, of course--but probably a decent amount for fiction. I've always been a bit of a Britophile and I'd studied a lot of England's history in high school and college. I was an English lit major and my area was 19th century British fiction like Thomas Hardy, Jane Austen, Wilkie Collins and George Eliot. I've traveled extensively in England and Scotland, and let's not forget the countless hours of movies and TV mini-series I've watched that take place in England in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries (note the winces on the faces of real researchers at this point.) Throw in the hundreds and hundreds of popular novels I've read set in England and Scotland like those of Dorothy L.Sayers, Patrick O'Brian, Ian Rankin, Elizabeth George, John Le Carre and Colin Dexter among others, and you end up with a pretty decent background in all things British.

The book that changed everything for me was Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I'd never read a romance before Outlander, and let me tell you, that's a darned fine one to start with. After Outlander, I found myself (unsurprisingly) fascinated with the early 18th century and that's where I decided to set my first manuscript, which was a sweeping historical set in the borderlands of England and Scotland. You haven't seen it. It's never been published, but it scored me my agent Claudia Cross. When that one didn't sell, she encouraged me to write a second. Knowing I wanted to write something faster, I switched to a contemporary setting, but not wanting to lose all that fine research I'd done, I decided my heroine should time travel.

I love the idea of “fictographies” of famous artists. How’d you come up with the idea?

Reading Tracy Chevalier's wonderful Girl with a Pearl Earring. Chevalier made no bones about the fact that very little is known about Vermeer's life and she was essentially making up the story of how that painting came to be. I could just imagine Vermeer up in heaven, sitting in the bathtub with a copy of the book in his hand saying, "What the...?" The idea amused me, so from there, it was an easy jump to Sir Peter Lely storming down from the Great Beyond to stop Cam Stratford from exposing his secrets in her sexy, tell-all "fictography." Watch out, Tracy. Vermeer may be on his way.

Shoes played a big role in your first book (Tumbling Through Time) and all your book covers feature great pairs. Who’s your favorite shoe designer?

On a day-to-day, I'm more of a comfort gal, but I do keep a nice supply of, well, there is an impolite name for them but perhaps I'll just say, "Admire-me" shoes. They are generally reserved for sitting (or lying) down, however. I like suede, ruffles and architectural details, so I'm fond of Nine West, Steve Madden, and Elizabeth and James, and I don't discount the design power of Payless, either. In fact, I just got two pairs of slouch sandals there that are too cool for school. I hope to debut them during the Flirting with Forever Beetle-Mania Tour in April. My absolute favorite pair of dressy shoes, however, are hot pink suede wedge sling-back, peep-toe sandals made by a company called Bronx. They're the ones I wore when I won the RITA Award :)

What book (your own or someone else’s) has had the most impact on your life?

I've loved many, many books, but there have been only two that I could truthfully say changed my life: Outlander made me want to become a writer, and Motherless Daughters helped me understand how the experience of losing my mother at age 11 made me who I am.

What’s up next for you?

Well, I just turned in book #4, Aching for Always, which comes out in the fall, and I'm hard at work on book #5, which is a contemporary but not a time travel. I'll give you a hint. It involves a book snob who thinks romances are the literary equivalent of Word Search puzzles--until she picks up a romance about a time-traveling woman who ends up in the arms of the most honorable and heroic Highland warrior who ever lived and discovers there's a romance addict in all of us. Ha!

Speaking of shoes, I encourage your readers to come to www.cready.com before April 8 to enter the best shoe contest ever. One lucky entrant will win a pair of Michael Kors zebra-striped shoes ($165 value), very close to the ones on the cover of Flirting with Forever.

Thank you, Nicole!