The Day After Yesterday by Kelly Cozy and a Giveaway!

The events of a single night can change a life forever, as musician Daniel Whitman discovers when he loses his family and home.

Overwhelmed by grief, unable to find solace in his music or accept comfort from his friends, he flees up the California coast. Daniel thinks he's leaving everything behind, but his journey will take him to the places and people that will help him find his way back.

The Day After Yesterday is a story of hope, friendship, and the redemptive power of music. ~~ synopsis from Goodreads

My thoughts about The Day After Yesterday ~~

Have you ever found yourself reading a book that you got so engrossed in that you just inhaled it? You just couldn't read fast enough? I wish I could say that about this book. The Day After Yesterday had the opposite effect on me. I was so entranced with it that I found myself stopping and setting it aside ~ I didn't want it to end. By putting it down, I could enjoy it longer, savor it more.

I absolutely fell in love with this story!

Okay, okay. I have to admit that I first fell for the cover. My favorite color is blue. This cover is blue. The sun shining through the water. It looks so serene and beautiful. And the synopsis sounded intriguing. I'd give it a shot.

Whoa ~ I was not prepared to be sucked in to the story from the eight pages of the prologue. But that's what hooked me. I just had to keep reading. And it just got better from there. Like I said, I didn't want to stop but I didn't want the story to end either.

I got so emotionally involved with this story that I had to read it in bits and pieces just so I could absorb the thoughts and feelings of the characters. And yes, I will admit that when reading parts of this book, I did have tears in my eyes. I really am in awe of authors who can put so much into a book that the reader feels the emotions right along with the characters. It can't be an easy thing to do, as a writer.

I love to mark lines or passages in the books that I read, some part that just speaks to me. I did mark quite a few in this book, but when I went back to look at them, I didn't want to post them here. I was afraid of giving away too much of the story. Here are just a couple of lines that I can share. Sorry, you're just going to have to read The Day After Yesterday to get the rest.

'Leaving had seemed like the right thing - the only thing - at the time, but whatever he'd been looking for when he'd fled, he hadn't found it.'

'But that's all any art is. Something done just for the artist. Whether it's a song or a story or a painting, it starts as something done for the self. If it touches other people, that's a blessing. Accept it graciously.'

Thank you, Kelly for bringing your book to my attention and asking if I would be interested in reading it. I am so very glad I did and I will be recommending it to everyone who will listen to me!

And guess what everyone? Kelly is giving 2 copies of her book for a giveaway! She will send an autographed print copy to someone in the US/Canada AND an e-book to someone internationally!

How awesome is that!!

About the author

Kelly Cozy became hooked on books in early infancy, when she turned one of her parents' paperbacks into a teething ring. She lives in California with her husband, son, and cats. Her hobbies include cooking, reading, watching movies, and attending nerdy conventions.

She is the author of The Day After Yesterday (contemporary fiction) and Ashes (suspense, first in a two-book series).

Connect with Kelly

Blog | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter

Purchase The Day After Yesterday

Amazon Paperback | Amazon Kindle | Smashwords

Giveaway!!

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Book Spotlight and a Giveaway! Skipping a Beat by Sarah Pekkanen

Skipping a Beat

Julia and Michael meet in high school in their small, poverty-stricken West Virginia hometown. Both products of difficult childhoods -- Julia’s father is a compulsive gambler and Michael’s mother abandoned his family when he was a young boy – they find a sense of safety and mutual understanding in each other. Shortly after graduation they flee West Virginia to start afresh. Now thirty-somethings, they are living a rarified life in their multi-million-dollar,Washington D.C. home. From the outside it all looks perfect – Julia has become a highly sought-after party planner, while Michael has launched a wildly successful flavored water company that he sold for $70 million.

But one day Michael stands up at the head of the table in his company's boardroom -- then silently crashes to the floor. More than four minutes later, a portable defibrillator manages to jump-start his heart. Yet what happened to Michael during those lost minutes forever changes him. Money is meaningless to him now - and he wants to give it all away to charity. A prenuptial agreement that Julia insisted upon back when Michael's company was still struggling means she has no claim to his fortune, and now she must decide: should she walk away from the man she once adored, but who truthfully became a stranger to her long before his near-death experience - or should she give in to her husband's pleas for a second chance and a promise of a poorer but happier life? ~ from Goodreads

About the author

"Fans of Jennifer Weiner and Emily Giffin will strongly appreciate this rising star in women's fiction." - Library Journal.

Internationally bestselling author Sarah Pekkanen's newest book is The Best of Us (April 2013, Atria/Simon&Schuster). She is also the author of The Opposite of Me, Skipping a Beat, and These Girls. Sarah's linked 99 cent short stories, published by Simon & Schuster exclusively for ereaders, are titled "All is Bright," "Love, Accidentally" and the upcoming "Beginning Again."

Sarah is the mother of three young boys, which explains why she writes part of her novels at Chuck E. Cheese.

Sarah penned her first book, Miscellaneous Tales and Poems, at the age of 10. When publishers failed to jump upon this literary masterpiece (hey, all the poems rhymed!) Sarah followed up by sending them a sternly-worded letter on Raggedy Ann stationery. Sarah still has that letter, and carries it to New York every time she has meetings with her publisher, as a reminder that dreams do come true. At least some dreams - Brad Pitt has yet to show up on her doorstep wearing nothing but a toolbelt and asking if she needs anything fixed. So maybe it's only G-rated dreams that come true.

Other tidbits about Sarah: She was once rejected as a contestant on "Wheel of Fortune." She wrote an article for People magazine on a parrot psychologist. In college, she worked as a model and as an extra on the set of Hollywood movies. Her website is www.sarahpekkanen.com and please friend her on Facebook!

Connect with Sarah

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter

Giveaway!

Okay ~ so looking thru my piles of books, I noticed I had 2 copies of Skipping a Beat. How does that happen?? So anyway, one of you can win my extra copy! 

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Maggie's Turn by Deanna Lynn Sletten and a Giveaway!

Sometimes you just have to walk away…

to rediscover who you are.

Maggie Harrison is a devoted wife and mother, always putting the needs of her family ahead of her own. Then, one day, without planning to, she drives away, leaving behind an indifferent husband and two sulking teenagers. Maggie goes off on a quest of self-exploration, enjoying adventures, meeting new people, and rediscovering her passions. For the first time in years, she dreams about what she wants out of life, and she realizes that her deteriorating marriage can no longer continue as it is. Can she and Andrew repair their floundering relationship, or is their marriage over?

Andrew Harrison likes his life to be in perfect order. He enjoys his work and status in the community, leaving Maggie to take care of everything at home. He knows his marriage isn't perfect, but after twenty-three years and two kids, whose marriage is? When Maggie leaves without a word, he is forced to start paying more attention to his home life and his almost grown children, and he begins to do a little self-exploration of his own. Slowly, he begins to understand what drove Maggie away, and how important she is in his life. Is it too late to resolve their differences and save their marriage? Or will Andrew lose Maggie forever? ~~ synopsis from Goodreads

My thoughts about Maggie's Turn ~~

Love, love, love this book! I have now read 3 of Deanna's books and I think she just keeps getting better and better! I saved Maggie's Turn so that I could read and savor it while I was on vacation, I knew it would be that good. What a wonderful way to spend my time!

Maggie's Turn spoke to me on so many levels. First of all, there's Maggie, as a wife and mother, going through the motions, feeling unfulfilled. Seriously, haven't all of us wives and mothers out there - 'been there, done that'? So I admired (and envied a little bit) the strength and courage of Maggie to just go!

"Lately, she felt overwhelmed by it all - home, work, Andrew, and the kids, There never seemed to be a break in everyone's needs and wants."

"She had no reason to leave him. As far as he was concerned, her life was perfect."

Spoken like a man, albeit a clueless man!

"And I lost me."

I loved that she had the strength to realize that she was lost and the courage to go out and 'find' herself. I loved experiencing what she went through to realize her self-worth and to gain her self-esteem.

Another connection I had to the storyline was the fact that as Maggie is leaving her home and family, she drives through South Dakota on her way west. And she spends a few days in Deadwood. I was reading Maggie's Turn as I was traveling across SD, and you guessed it, on my way to Deadwood. I loved that connection!

And.... Maggie ends up buying a Mustang. Guess what? I have a 65 Mustang sitting in my garage! (Needs work, waiting on hubby, *insert sad face here*) I went down that road too; driving kids around, in a van, when what I really wanted was a sports car.

Anyway, as I said, I loved Maggie's Turn and I am loving anything that Deanna's writes. She is definitely one of my 'must read' authors - her stories are always so wonderful!

About the author

Deanna Lynn Sletten writes women's fiction and romance novels that dig deeply into the lives of the characters, giving the reader an in-depth look into their hearts and souls. She has also written one middle-grade novel that takes you on the adventure of a lifetime.

Deanna's romance novel, Memories, was a semifinalist in The Kindle Book Review's Best Indie Books of 2012. Her novel, Sara's Promise, was a semifinalist in The Kindle Book Review's Best Indie Books of 2013 and a finalist in the 2013 National Indie Excellence Book Awards.

Deanna is married and has two grown children. When not writing, she enjoys walking the wooded trails around her northern Minnesota home with her beautiful Australian Shepherd or relaxing in the boat on the lake in the summer.

Connect with Deanna

Website | Blog | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter

Purchase Maggie's Turn

Deanna is having a sale on September 26th. 

Maggie's Turn will be $.99 on Amazon that day! 

You really need to go get it! You already know I loved it!!   

Amazon Paperback | Amazon Kindle | CreateSpace

Giveaway!

Deanna has very generously donated a paperback copy of Maggie's Turn for my giveaway. The paperback copy will go to someone in the US. I am also giving away a Kindle copy of the book to one person outside of the US. So that makes this giveaway INTERNATIONAL! 

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WWW Wednesdays September 11, 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?

Rocky Road by Josi S. Kilpack
I love this series! And how can you not just love this cover?

Walk Me Home by Catherine Ryan Hyde

I love Catherine's books and I am lovin' listening to this one!

What did you recently finish reading?

And Then I Found You by Patti Callahan Henry
 Another great story from Patti!

The Drake Equation by Heather Walsh
I had never read anything by Heather before. This was a good one!   

What do you think you will read next?

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Coast Trail by Cheryl Strayed
Still haven't started this one yet. I really should get on it since book club is meeting soon. Just not real excited to read it. 

What's on your WWW this week?

Leave me a comment and

I'll stop by to check out your reads.

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Book Blitz: HEIST by Laura Pauling ~ a Guest Post and a Giveaway!

Heist by Laura Pauling
Genre: YA Psychological Thriller

Release date: August 11, 2013

Can one decision change the past?

Jack Brodie has a sixth sense that someone has been watching him. Following him.

One night he travels back in time to one of the world’s largest art thefts, known as the Gardner Heist. Why that one moment in time? And what does it mean for Jack?

When he returns, his world is different. His best friend is rougher, meaner. His dad hasn’t been around in years. And then there’s Jetta. The girl who took over his heart the moment she stepped into his life. No one is safe.

Each time Jack goes back to the heist to fix his mistakes, he returns to face the fallout. Disaster strikes in the present until Jack must make a choice. His family and his own happiness. Or the girl he loves. Except, he learns that his sixth sense was right.

Someone has been watching him and wants him dead.

My thoughts ~ I read this book and loved the idea of time travel mixed up in the art world. You can read my original post here. Laura explains a little bit about how she made time travel fit into her novel.

The science behind time travel.

I’ve always loved stories or movies that involve time travel. Not so much the science fiction aspect behind it, but how it affects the characters and the storyline. But, that didn’t mean I could ignore the science in my time travel novel.

At first, when Heist was going to be a humorous upper middle grade novel, there was going to be a science lab, a failed experiment, an explosion - and voila - time travel. That didn’t quite fit with the story that was coming out on the page. After the first draft, while doing more in-depth research, I stumbled upon a sickness called, the Stendhal Syndrome. This is a psychosomatic disorder causing dizziness, fainting, confusion, and even hallucinations, when exposed to a large amount of art, and more particularly, beautiful art.

I had my answer. In Heist, Jack Brodie, the main character, has this experience. Copies of the stolen art from the Gardner Museum Heist, bring him back to the night of the crime, March 17, 1990. Also, this fit better with my realistic, gritty time travel, then trying to have an actual futuristic time travel machine.

About the author

Laura Pauling writes young adult fiction. She lives the cover of suburban mom/author perfectly, from the minivan to the home-baked snickerdoodles, while hiding her secret missions and covert operations. But shh. Don't tell anyone!

Her YA Circle of Spies Series includes A SPY LIKE ME and HEART OF AN ASSASSIN. Book three, TWIST OF FATE will be released in the fall of 2013.

HEIST, a young adult, psychological thriller, was released August 2013.

Connect with Laura

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

Purchase HEIST

Amazon | B&N

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