WWW Wednesdays May 29, 2013

WWW Wednesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading

To play along, just answer the following three questions…

• What are you currently reading?

• What did you recently finish reading?

• What do you think you’ll read next?

Clicking on the book covers will take you to Goodreads
for more information about the books listed below.

What are you currently reading?

Echoes by Maeve Binchy

This is for my book club. I like it but it seems like a long read.

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

I absolutely LOVE this book! I am listening to the audio version. It's going to take me awhile to get through this one but I am lovin' it! 

What did you recently finish reading?

Double Click by Lisa Becker
Loved it, just like Click! You can read my thoughts here.
Lisa has an e-copy of both of her books for one lucky winner. Go check it out! 

What do you think you will read next?

Mama's Child by Joan Steinau Lester

I am reading this for JKSCommunications. My thoughts will be posted June 2.

What's on your WWW this week?

Leave me a comment and

I'll stop by to check out your reads.

And be sure to check out the sidebar for my current giveaways!

Double Click by Lisa Becker and a Giveaway!

Fans of the romantic hit Click: An Online Love Story will enjoy another voyeuristic dive into the lives of Renee, Shelley, Ashley, Mark and Ethan, as Double Click picks up with their lives six months later. Are Renee and Ethan soul mates? Does Mark ever go on a date? Has Shelley run out of sexual conquests in Los Angeles? Will Ashley's judgmental nature sabotage her budding relationship? Through a marriage proposal, wedding, new baby and unexpected love twist, Double Click answers these questions and more. Readers will continue to cheer, laugh, cry and cringe following the email exploits of Renee and friends. ~~ synopsis from Goodreads

My thoughts about Double Click ~~

I recently read Click: an Online Love Story. What fun! My thoughts are here. Yesterday Lisa was here talking about how these stories came about. Click here to see what she has to say.

And be sure to enter the giveaway! Lisa is giving an e-book copy of both of her books to one lucky winner. Trust me, you are going to want to get your hands on these. Thank you, Lisa!!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Click and looked forward to reading about the further adventures of Renee, Shelly, Ashley, Mark and Ethan in Double Click. And I was not disappointed! Once again the whole story is told via emails exchanged between the friends. I loved watching (reading) their relationships grow and change as all of ours do as we get older and our lives change. They very easily joke around with each other but they are also there for each other when a friend needs some support and love.

I loved both of these books and found them a nice escape into a fun little world filled with wonderful, caring, and funny people. I laughed at the email exchanges when they were joking around with each other. Let's see, there was the Penis Month emails, the egg emails and the Mr. Bubble emails. What a hoot! I love it when I find myself reading a book with a smile on my face.

I am not sure what Lisa has in the works right now, but I know I will be watching and waiting for it.

About the author

Lisa Becker had endured her share of hilarious and heinous cyber dates, many of which inspired Click: An Online Love Story and Double Click. She is now happily married to a wonderful man she met online and lives in Manhattan Beach with him and their two daughters. So, if it happened for her, there’s hope for you!

Connect with Lisa

Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!

Lisa Becker, Author of Click and Double Click, Talks About How These Stories Came About and a Giveaway

Yesterday I posted my thoughts about Lisa's wonderful, fun book Click: An Online Love Story. You can read them here. Come back tomorrow to read my thoughts about the sequel, Double Click. Today Lisa is here talking about her stories and her characters. Thanks for being here, Lisa!

Click: An Online Love Story (and Double Click for that matter) are loosely based on my real-life dating (mis)adventures, as well as stories friends have shared with me. In some cases, things are written as they actually occurred. Other scenarios are exaggerated for entertainment value or comedic affect. And some scenarios are completely fictionalized. I really did go out on a date with someone I met online who started every story (no joke!) with “My buddies and I were out drinking last night.”  

One of my characters has this hilarious habit of giving nicknames to her “man du jour.” That was inspired by a childhood friend of mine who had a nickname for a guy in college that she admired from across the dorm cafeteria. She called him Maverick because he looked like Tom Cruise in Top Gun. But the happy ending in the book is real. I met my husband online. We've been happily married for 10 years and have two amazing daughters - ages 8 and 6.  So if it happened for me, there’s truly hope for anyone!

About the author

Lisa Becker had endured her share of hilarious and heinous cyber dates, many of which inspired Click: An Online Love Story and Double Click. She is now happily married to a wonderful man she met online and lives in Manhattan Beach with him and their two daughters. So, if it happened for her, there’s hope for you!

Connect with Lisa

Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon

Click: An Online Love Story Synopsis - Fast approaching her 30th birthday and finding herself not married, not dating, and without even a prospect or a house full of cats, Renee Greene, the heroine of Click: An Online Love Story, reluctantly joins her best guy pal on a journey to find love online in Los Angeles. The story unfolds entirely through emails between Renee and her best friends (anal-compulsive Mark, the overly-judgmental Ashley and the over-sexed Shelley) as well as the gentlemen suitors she meets online. From the guy who starts every story with "My buddies and I were out drinking one night," to the egotistical “B” celebrity looking for someone to stroke his ego, Renee wades into the shallow end of the dating (cess)pool and endures her share of hilarious and heinous cyber dates. Fraught with BCC's, FWD's and inadvertent Reply to All's, readers will cheer, laugh, cry and cringe following the email exploits of Renee and friends. And ultimately, they will root for Renee to "click" with the right man.

Double Click Synopsis - Fans of the romantic hit Click: An Online Love Story will enjoy another voyeuristic dive into the lives of Renee, Shelley, Ashley, Mark and Ethan, as Double Click picks up with their lives six months later. Are Renee and Ethan soul mates? Does Mark ever go on a date? Has Shelley run out of sexual conquests in Los Angeles? Will Ashley's judgmental nature sabotage her budding relationship? Through a marriage proposal, wedding, new baby and unexpected love twist, Double Click answers these questions and more. Readers will continue to cheer, laugh, cry and cringe following the email exploits of Renee and friends.

And now ~~ the giveaway!

Lisa is giving an e-book copy of both of her books to one lucky winner! Trust me, you are going to want to get your hands on these!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways. 

Click: an Online Love Story by Lisa Becker and a Giveaway!

Fast approaching her 30th birthday and finding herself not married, not dating, and without even a prospect or a house full of cats, Renee Greene, the heroine of Click: An Online Love Story, reluctantly joins her best guy pal on a journey to find love online in Los Angeles. The story unfolds through a series of emails between Renee and her best friends (anal-compulsive Mark, the overly-judgmental Ashley and the over-sexed Shelley) as well as the gentlemen suitors she meets online. From the guy who starts every story with "My buddies and I were out drinking one night," to the egotistical "B" celebrity looking for someone to stroke his ego, Renee endures her share of hilarious and heinous cyber dates. Fraught with BCC's, FWD's and inadvertent Reply to All's, readers will root for Renee to "click" with the right man. ~~ synopsis from Goodreads

My thoughts about Click ~~

I love the idea of this book, a whole story told through emails. That's our lives now, isn't it? It really was amazing that I, as the reader, could learn so much about the characters, just from emails. And to be able to form a connection with them. The four main characters all have totally different personalities and I learned so much about them. I loved them all!

The four friends are all connected through the main character Renee. She gets talked into trying an online dating site. Because, you know, she's approaching 30 and doesn't have a man in her life. So some of the email exchanges are with the men for the dating site. And some are the exchanges between the friends as they try to figure out their lives.

Probably the character I got the biggest kick out of was Shelly. She was always dating (and sleeping with) different guys all the time. And she has a way to keep them straight - she assigned them names, depending on their performance. Some of them made me LOL.

Click is a very enjoyable, quick (as in, I didn't want to put it down!), fun read.

I have the sequel to this book, Double Click sitting on my Kindle, calling to me. I so want to dive into it to continue this story and to see what direction everyone's lives take but I wanted to get my thoughts down about Click before I continued so I wouldn't be influenced by the sequel. So here I go, off to get lost in another fun read!

Be sure to stop tomorrow when Lisa will be here talking about how these books came about. And then on Tuesday, I will post my thoughts about Double Click. And be sure to enter the giveaway! Lisa is giving an e-book copy of both of her books to one lucky winner! Trust me, you are going to want to get your hands on these!

About the author

Lisa Becker had endured her share of hilarious and heinous cyber dates, many of which inspired Click: An Online Love Story and Double Click. She is now happily married to a wonderful man she met online and lives in Manhattan Beach with him and their two daughters. So, if it happened for her, there’s hope for you!

Connect with Lisa

Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!

Book Spotlight and a Giveaway! True Believers by Kurt Anderson

You may or may not have noticed that I have been putting up more giveaways that usual. I have been seriously trying to weed my bookshelves. (Can you tell I work in a library?) I am finding books that, for whatever reason, I will probably never get read. That doesn't mean that they aren't good books, they're just not for me, right now. So I decided to feature them here and give someone else a chance to win the book and read it. 

True Believers

In True Believers, Kurt Andersen—the New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed author of Heyday and Turn of the Century—delivers his most powerful and moving novel yet. Dazzling in its wit and effervescent insight, this kaleidoscopic tour de force of cultural observation and seductive storytelling alternates between the present and the 1960s—and indelibly captures the enduring impact of that time on the ways we live now.

Karen Hollander is a celebrated attorney who recently removed herself from consideration for appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. Her reasons have their roots in 1968—an episode she’s managed to keep secret for more than forty years. Now, with the imminent publication of her memoir, she’s about to let the world in on that shocking secret—as soon as she can track down the answers to a few crucial last questions.

As junior-high-school kids back in the early sixties, Karen and her two best friends, Chuck and Alex, roamed suburban Chicago on their bikes looking for intrigue and excitement. Inspired by the exotic romance of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels, they acted out elaborate spy missions pitting themselves against imaginary Cold War villains. As friendship carries them through childhood and on to college—in a polarized late-sixties America riven by war and race as well as sex, drugs, and rock and roll—the bad guys cease to be the creatures of make-believe. Caught up in the fervor of that extraordinary and uncanny time, they find themselves swept into a dangerous new game with the highest possible stakes.

Today, only a handful of people are left who know what happened. As Karen reconstructs the past and reconciles the girl she was then with the woman she is now, finally sharing pieces of her secret past with her national-security-cowboy boyfriend and activist granddaughter, the power of memory and history and luck become clear. A resonant coming-of-age story and a thrilling political mystery. ~~ synopsis from Goodreads

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!

Love in Darkness by E.M. Tippetts, an Excerpt and a Release Week Event Giveaway!

Title: Love in Darkness (Shattered Castles, #2)

Author: E.M. Tippetts

Release date: May 21, 2013

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Age Group: New Adult

Event organized by: AToMR Tours

Love in Darkness on Goodreads

Alex had everything when he was with Madison. But the darkness within him wouldn't go away. After two years apart, he returns to Pelican Bluffs and to the girl he never wanted to leave.

Madison wants to give their love another chance, but Alex can’t fight fate. He is what he is. Ruined. Crazy like his mother. And Madison deserves so much more. When his secrets spill out into their small town, Alex has a choice to make. Hide away in the darkness forever, or let love in.

Excerpt from Love in Darkness

I push through the glass doors and step out onto the asphalt of the parking lot, right into Madison. I put my hands up to shield myself and she does an awkward sidestep to avoid collision. 

For a moment we just stare at each other and I lower my hands slowly, unsure of what to say. 

“Sorry,” is what she says. Those pale eyes of hers stay fixed on my face. Her hair’s still a little damp from the shower and the smell of her herbal shampoo perfumes the air. Those lips of hers are a soft pink and shine from a fresh application of lip gloss, and she scowls a little, like she always does when unhappy. 

“No,” I say, “my fault. I didn't look.” 

She bites her lip. 

Standing this close, she’s irresistible. I want, so badly, to put my arms around her. What’s worse is that encounters like this will happen, and keep happening as long as we both live in town. 

She drops her gaze to the pavement. 

Yeah, this isn't working. “Can we talk?” I ask. 

A wordless nod is her only reply and we turn and walk back towards her subdivision. 

I touch her arm to make her look up at me, then regret it. Even just a touch sends electricity up my arm. “I’m sorry, okay? For ending things the way I did.” 

“You sure there’s no chance for us?” 

“I’m sorry.” 

“How can you just throw away the last three years? I mean, that’s it? You’re not interested, end of story? I've waited two years for you, and it’s like you don’t even care.” At least she’s angry and not sad. 

This is torture. My body aches, physically, for the feel of her. I want to taste those lips and run my fingers through her hair and feel the cool dampness of each strand. I want to take her home and see if I remember how to kiss her neck so gently that she tips her head back, eyes closed, surrendering to my touch. 

Alex, I think, quit it. Not appropriate. I stop and turn. 

She locks her gaze with mine. “I want to be with you. There’s no one else I've ever felt this way about.” 

It feels natural to step in for a hug, but I stop myself and clench my fists instead. “I’m an unemployed high school dropout with a psychotic disorder. You can do better. In fact, it’d be hard for you to do worse.” 

“But-” 

“I never wanted to lose you, but there’s nothing I can really do about that. You’re out of my league.” 

“We could try to work things out,” she pleads. 

“All the trying in the world won’t change my condition.” And with that, I hit the limits of my control. I’m being gazed at by the love of my life and I need to get out of here. Worse, I sense the voices jabbering away on their plane of existence, and I have to remind myself, they don’t have any plane of existence. They don’t exist. Here I go again, though. I wonder how long I have until my next breakdown. 

Like I said, I always knew I wasn't the greatest guy, but walking away from Madison feels like a new low for me. I try to hold onto the thought that I’m doing this for her. 

Anger rushes in my ears like a windstorm. Any second I expect to hear her run after me and feel her hand on my wrist or shoulder, but that never comes. I make it to the corner of Main Street and Ridge Road, and when I look, no one is behind me, which makes me even angrier, even though I know that’s not fair.

Buy the book

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Kobo

About the author

Emily Mah Tippetts writes romance under the name E.M. Tippetts and science fiction and fantasy under the name Emily Mah. Originally from New Mexico, she now lives in London with her family. Before she was a published author, she was an attorney who specialized in real estate, contracts, and estate planning, especially literary estate planning.

Connect with Emily

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon

Release Week Event Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways! 

On Tour: The Roots of the Olive Tree by Courtney Miller Santo

Courtney Miller Santo’s compelling and evocative debut novel captures the joys and sorrows of family— the love, secrets, disappointments, jealousies, and forgiveness that tie generations to one another.

Meet the Keller family, five generations of firstborn women living together in the same house on a secluded olive grove in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California. Anna, the family matriarch, is 112 and determined to become the oldest person in the world. Strong in mind and firm in body, she rules Hill House, the family home she shares with her daughter Bets, granddaughter Callie, great-granddaughter Deb, and great-great-granddaughter Erin.

While the Keller women are bound by blood, living together has not always been easy. And it is about to become more complicated now that Erin, the youngest, is back, alone and pregnant, after two years abroad with an opera company. Her return and the arrival of a geneticist who has come to study the family’s unusual longevity ignites explosive emotions that these women have kept buried and uncovers revelations that will shake them all to their roots.

My thoughts about The Roots of the Olive Tree ~~

I love stories about generations of women. And strong women. And women who lean on and are there for the other women in their lives. The reader gets all this and more in The Roots of the Olive Tree. This is a story about five generations of first born women, with the sixth generation on the way. The matriarch of the family is 112 years old. Amazing, huh?

A geneticist comes to study the women to try to understand while these women live to such an advanced age. What he discovers there is not what he was expecting to find. His being there opened up the past and we learn what this family has gone through to survive as long as they have.

The story is woven through the chapters, focusing on one woman at a time and their story; all of the happiness, sorrows and struggles they had to go through to get where they are today. We learn how much they love each other as well as the frustrations they encountered as they dealt with the other women in the family home.

This is a beautifully written family saga that I absolutely fell in love with. I recommend it to anyone and everyone who asks for a good book to read. This is definitely going on my list to suggest to my book club. It is just an amazing story!

Visit other stops on the tour here!

About the author

Courtney Miller Santo grasped the importance of stories from listening to her great-grandmother, who lives in Northern California. She learned to write stories in the journalism program at Washington and Lee University and then discovered the limits of true stories working as a reporter in Virginia. She teaches creative writing at the University of Memphis, where she earned her MFA. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Los Angeles Review, Irreantum, Sunstone, and Segullah. She lives in Tennessee with her husband, two children, and dog. Her most prized possession is a photo of five generations of the women in her own family.

Connect with Courtney

Website | Facebook | Twitter| Pinterest | Goodreads

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!

On Tour: Still Life in Brunswick Stew by Larissa Reinhart and a Tour Giveaway!

Cherry Tucker’s in a stew. Art commissions dried up after her nemesis became president of the County Arts Council. Desperate and broke, Cherry and her friend, Eloise, spend a sultry summer weekend hawking their art at the Sidewinder Annual Brunswick Stew Cook-Off. When a bad case of food poisoning breaks out and Eloise dies, the police brush off her death as accidental.

However, Cherry suspects someone spiked the stew and killed her friend. As Cherry calls on cook-off competitors, bitter rivals, and crooked judges, the police get steamed while the killer prepares to cook Cherry’s goose. ~~ synopsis from Goodreads

My thoughts about Still Life in Brunswick Stew ~~

Okay, Still Life In Brunswick Stew is book #2 is the Cherry Tucker Mystery series. How did I miss book #1, Portrait of a Dead Guy? I loved my look into the world of Cherry Tucker, even if I was a little late coming to the party.

Cherry is a struggling artist whose good friend dies after eating Brunswick Stew at the cook-off competition. She makes it her mission to get answers and solve the crime, even though the police don't think a crime was committed. I enjoyed the adventures and mishaps that Cherry found herself in, while trying to get those answers. And all of this taking place on the sly because her boyfriend doesn't want her to get involved. Then there's the ex (a quickie wedding and divorce? ~ which is what I think I might have missed from book 1). Is it really over between them? Or are the sparks still flying?

One of my favorite parts is when Cherry is sneaking around in a house trying to find clues and ends up climbing/falling down the outside of the house. It is making me laugh again as I am writing this. And there are some amazingly funny lines in this story. I love the author's quirky sense of humor.

Here are just a few that I marked. Enjoy!

'Of course they want you to look into it. You like to stand up for people like the Parkers. You got talent for telling the big folks how the cow eats the cabbage.'

'Beautiful men make us stupid.'

And one of my favorites ~ what an image this line put in my head.

'Why would someone be interested in an old curmudgeon like Grandpa? We don't have money and he's not even good looking. More like a stingy piece of jerky than a hot hunk of beef.'

Love it!

The characters and the story made me think a little but about Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, which I love and think is hilarious. Cherry and her escapades reminded me of Stephanie's adventures and I am going to love reading more to see what predicaments she gets herself into. And how she gets out of them. And..... which guy she ends up with. I am definitely going to have to go back and read book#1 so I can catch up and be ready for book#3. So much fun!

Visit other stops on the tour here!

About the author

Larissa Reinhart loves small town characters, particularly sassy women with a penchant for trouble. STILL LIFE IN BRUNSWICK STEW (May 2013) is the second in the Cherry Tucker Mystery Series. The first, PORTRAIT OF A DEAD GUY, is a 2012 Daphne du Maurier finalist, a 2012 The Emily finalist, and a 2011 Dixie Kane Memorial winner. She lives near Atlanta with her minions and Cairn Terrier, Biscuit. Visit her website, her Facebook page, or find her chatting with the Little Read Hens on Facebook.

Connect with Larissa

Website | Blog | Facebook| Goodreads

Twitter | Publisher | Amazon

Tour Giveaway!

**Everyone who leaves a comment on the tour page (click here) will be entered to win a $20 Amazon gift card! Anyone who purchases their copy of Still Life in Brunswick Stew before June 10 and sends their receipt to Samantha (at) ChickLitPlus (dot) com, will get five bonus entries.**

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!

Cover Reveal: Keeper of the Lost Souls by Kristy Centeno

OMG! 

Isn't this cover amazing? 

Keeper of the Lost Souls by Kristy Centeno

Coming June 2013

Synopsis

Bryn McCaskey is young, naïve, and can talk to ghosts. Like her mother and grandmother, Bryn is part of a breed of witches called The Keepers of the Lost Souls, whose main purpose is to guard those spirits which are permanently or temporarily grounded in the world of the living.

Because Bryn is a witch, she’s fairly comfortable dealing with all sorts of threats, which she does with ease and confidence. Handling supernatural creatures is as easy to her as baking a pie. Dealing with people however, is something she is yet to learn how to handle.

Unfortunately, as her 18th birthday approaches, and the time for her to take on her first assignment finally arrives, Bryn is forced to confront her inability to communicate with others in an effort to save the one soul that can mean the difference between life and death for mankind.

Johnny Shaw is a lost soul with a personal vendetta against witches. A vendetta he has carried on even after death. However, as much as he might hate them, in order to stop a century old threat, he must join forces with one. When fate brings them together, not only will they be forced to learn how to work as a team, but they will have to depend on each other to stop an evil witch carrying a six hundred year grudge.

Keeper of the Souls on Goodreads

About the author

As a child, she used to lose herself in an imaginary world by the means of a good book. Now that she’s all grown up, Kristy gets to create her own fictional realms and make them come to life in ways that most readers might not expect.
 
She’s always had a passion for writing but never had the opportunity do so until now. After trying out numerous options, she realized that writing was what she loved the most so when she found herself with some free time on her hands, she decided to pursue her passion. As it turned out, her very active imagination helped her achieve her goals of creating believable plots with some ordinary, and some not so ordinary characters that helped the stories move along in one way or another.
 
As she keeps moving along in achieving her dreams of becoming a published author, she divides her time in between her four children and her very understanding husband.

Connect with Kristy

Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Website

Be sure to check out the sidebar for my current giveaways! 

WWW Wednesdays May 22, 2013

WWW Wednesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading

To play along, just answer the following three questions…

• What are you currently reading?

• What did you recently finish reading?

• What do you think you’ll read next?

Clicking on the book covers will take you to Goodreads
for more information about the books listed below.

What are you currently reading?

Echoes by Maeve Binchy

This is one of my book club selections. I just started it so no opinion yet. 

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

I absolutely LOVE this book! I am now listening to the audio version ~ still lovin' it! 

What did you recently finish reading?

Still Life in Brunswick Stew by Larissa Reinhart

I read this for CLP Blog Tours. My thoughts will be posted May 23.

The Roots of the Olive Tree by Courtney Miller Santos

I read this one for TLC Book Tours. Loved it! My stop on the tour is May 23. 

Click: an Online Love Story by Lisa Becker
Fun read! My thoughts will be posted May 26.

What do you think you will read next?

Double Click by Lisa Becker

Can't wait to continue with this story.

What's on your WWW this week?

Leave me a comment and

I'll stop by to check out your reads.

And be sure to check out the sidebar

for my current giveaways!

Winners @ The Book Bag!

I have more winners to announce! 

The first one is for Putting Makeup on Dead People 

by Jenn Violi

And the winner is ......

bn100!! 

Next up for grabs is Momnesia 
by Lori Verni-Fogarsi

And the winner is ......

Amanda!!

Congratulations to both of you!

Emails have been sent and 
books will be on their way! 

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways! 

No Strings Attached Giveaway Hop ~ May Edition!

Once again, it's time for
my most favorite giveaway hop!

I love this one 'cause it's just so easy for all of you!

Just one little click and you are entered!

Really! No Strings!

A huge



goes out to Kathy at I am a Reader, Not a Writer
for hosting and coordinating this hop.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And now that you are done here ~ hop on over to all of the other blogs that are a part of this fun, easy hop! 

But before you go, be sure to check the sidebar 
for my other giveaways! 

What She Left Us by Stephanie Elliot

Jenna and Courtney are dealing with the unexpected death of their mother in different ways. Jenna broke off her engagement to the man she thought she'd love forever, while Courtney headed back to college to take charge of a dorm-floor full of college students as a resident assistant.

Six months later, Jenna is fueled by panic over the news that the sisters may have the same disease that caused their mother's death and she makes an irrational decision - she packs it up and heads to college to be with Courtney. The timing couldn't be worse for Courtney, who's discovering love for the first time with Mitch, a sexy guitar player who may just be off limits.

Emotionally unstable, Jenna wonders if she made the worst mistake of her life by breaking off her engagement with Darren, and when he shows up to make amends, she can't help but second-guess her decision. But then there's Clay, the compassionate bartender at Klippy's who seems to understand everything Jenna's going through. And those hazel eyes just seem to see right through to Jenna's soul…

As the girls maneuver through their unpredictable futures, trying to manage their new health risks as well as tumultuous love lives, Courtney finds a disturbing photograph that indicates there may be more to their family than she ever imagined.

This stunning revelation could shatter the sisters to the very core, making them question everything they thought they knew about their family, their faith, their past and, most of all, each other. ~~ synopsis from Goodreads

My thoughts about What She Left Us ~~

Loved it! Two sisters have to deal with their mother's death and then find out that they may have the same disease. Their lives will never be the same. Drama, drama, drama. There is the old boyfriend, the new boyfriend, the absent father, and the change to the way the sisters have to live their lives.

Sounds confusing? It's not really. It's all just what makes this a story you want to get lost in ~ you have to keep reading to see what is going to happen to Jenna and Courtney next.

'They'd forever be sisters. No matter what. Nothing could ever change that.'

I have to say the following line is probably one of my favorite lines in the book

'I'd rather have messy clarity than hazy messiness.'

Umm? Deep!

I am always interested in seeing how the author ties the title to the story. I am not really sure how that whole process works. Is it like the chicken and the egg question? But I loved how this title, What She Left Us, took on so many different meanings in the story. Read it and see what you think.

I also read Stephanie's novella, The Cell Phone Lot, and loved it. You can read my thoughts here. 

At the end of What She Left Us is an excerpt from Stephanie's next book, Before the Beginning, which is scheduled to be released this summer. I can't wait!!

Stephanie writes the wonderful blog Booking With Manic. She features books and hold awesome giveaways. I always look forward to seeing what book she will be talking about and what question she wants her readers to answer for a chance to win.

About the author

Stephanie Elliot is the author of What She Left Us and The Cell Phone Lot. She is also the owner of Booking with Manic the popular book blog. Visit her at stephanieelliot.com.

Connect with Stephanie

Book Blog | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Amazon

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!

Book Spotlight and a Giveaway! The Angel Experiment (Maximum Ride #1) by James Patterson

The Angel Experiment (Maximum Ride #1)

In James Patterson's blockbuster series, fourteen-year-old Maximum Ride, better known as Max, knows what it's like to soar above the world. She and all the members of the "flock"--Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman and Angel--are just like ordinary kids--only they have wings and can fly. It may seem like a dream come true to some, but their lives can morph into a living nightmare at any time...like when Angel, the youngest member of the flock, is kidnapped and taken back to the "School" where she and the others were experimented on by a crew of wack jobs.

Her friends brave a journey to blazing hot Death Valley, CA, to save Angel, but soon enough, they find themselves in yet another nightmare--this one involving fighting off the half-human, half-wolf "Erasers" in New York City. Whether in the treetops of Central Park or in the bowels of the Manhattan subway system, Max and her adopted family take the ride of their lives. Along the way Max discovers from her old friend and father-figure Jeb--now her betrayed and greatest enemy--that her purpose is save the world--but can she? ~~ synopsis from Goodreads

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The Hole in the Middle by Kate Hilton ~ Free This Weekend!!

I just wanted to let everyone know about this fabulous sounding book that is FREE!!!! this weekend.

It sounds awesome!

And isn't this cover just yummy?

A smart, poignant and laugh-out-loud funny novel from a fresh new voice in women’s fiction.

Sophie Whelan has it all – including a hideous boss, a distracted husband, daycare woes, problem employees and a 40th birthday on the horizon. Precariously close to slipping off of the treadmill that is her daily grind, Sophie is startled by the reappearance of Will Shannon, the great unresolved love of her life. As she relives the vivid drama of their college romance, Sophie confronts the choices she has made in life and in love and looks for the one answer that has always eluded her: what does she really want?

On the surface, Sophie Whelan’s life includes everything a successful modern woman could want – a great husband, two beautiful children, devoted friends and a high-powered job in public relations. When she’s functioning in her peak form, Sophie can flatter balky employees, avert public relations disasters, tame grumpy childcare providers, throw dinner parties for ten and draft chirpy Christmas letters – all in the same day. But with her fortieth birthday looming, cracks begin to appear in her seemingly ideal life. Conflict with an obtuse boss, jealousy over her husband’s relationship with his female business partner and unraveling childcare arrangements begin to chip away at Sophie’s sense of professional and domestic success. When she seems precariously close to slipping off of the treadmill that is her daily grind, Sophie begins to wonder about her lack of personal fulfillment.

Into this midlife meltdown steps Lillian Parker, an eccentric and wealthy widow who played a pivotal role in Sophie’s life during her university days, and who has an offer for Sophie that could change everything. Lillian’s presence takes Sophie back into the vivid drama of her college love affair with Lillian’s nephew, Will Shannon, the man who represents the great unresolved “what if” of Sophie’s adult life. The Hole in the Middle charts Sophie’s crisis as she considers the choices she has made in life and love and looks for the one answer that has always eluded her: what does she really want?

FREE DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE MAY 17-19 ONLY

Amazon

Read the book that reviewers are calling “a stunning debut,” “a must read novel for the ‘This is 40’ set,” and “smart, funny and addictive.”

The Hole in the Middle is a fabulous debut novel from Kate Hilton, a fresh new voice in women’s fiction. It is available for free download from Amazon this weekend only on Amazon!

'I Don’t Know How She Does It' for the 'This Is 40' generation, The Hole in the Middle introduces Sophie Whelan, a woman who has it all - including a hideous boss, a distracted husband, daycare woes, problem employees and a 40th birthday on the horizon. Precariously close to slipping off of the treadmill that is her daily grind, Sophie is startled by the reappearance of Will Shannon, the great unresolved love of her life. As she remembers the vivid drama of their college romance, Sophie confronts the choices she has made in life and in love and looks for the one answer that has always eluded her: what does she really want?

The Hole in the Middle is getting amazing reviews from readers. A heartbreaking love story, a hilarious romp through today’s corporate workplace, and a fresh take on the hot debate about whether women can have it all, The Hole in the Middle is not to be missed.

For more information about The Hole in the Middle,

visit the author's website.

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