Release Day! Bedside Manners (Breakup Doctor #2) by Phoebe Fox and a Giveaway!

Release Day! 

Bedside Manners

Bedside Manners by Phoebe Fox

Series: Breakup Doctor #2

Print and e-book, 266 pages

Expected publication: March 24th 2015 by Henery Press

Brook Ogden has never encountered a broken heart she couldn’t patch together. Her counseling practice as the Breakup Doctor—on call to help you shape up after a breakup—is so busy she’s expanded to offer group sessions. (Turns out there are far more than fifty ways to leave your lover.) Her radio show and advice column have made her a local celebrity, and even her personal life, after some gruesome breakups of her own, is in recovery: Ben Garrett started out as a revenge date against an ex, but has turned into so much more.

But when sizzling-hot Chip Santana, an old client she once shared a rather unprofessional midnight roll in the sand with, comes back into her life asking for her help, Brook can’t say no. Yet while she’s busy stitching up his relationship troubles, Chip reveals much more than a therapeutic interest in her. 

In the standoff between her heart and her hormones, Brook’s cool, collected Wise Therapist persona begins to crack like thrown wedding china. She’s yelling at recalcitrant cheating husbands. Offering crazy advice to radio callers. She’s even hugging her clients.

When the situation goes critical, Brook’s forced into a decision she isn’t ready to make—and the Breakup Doctor has to decide what kind of casualties she’s willing to accept. 

My thoughts about Bedside Manners ~~

I loved book #1, The Breakup Doctor and was so excited to see that there was going to be a book #2. Bedside Manners is a great follow-up that takes us back to Brook's world, where we get to learn even more about her life.

Brook is a very likable character and she has a great sense of humor, a very gentle kind of humor, which we get to see throughout the story. She decides to start a support group for people with relationship problems. Those sessions were some of the best parts of the book - what great characters and situations! Brook dispenses such great advice and words of wisdom throughout the book. 

'"I've fought some of the same battles a lot of you are facing," I went on. "And I still am, and I'll probably fight more in the future. But this last time through the wringer I learned that you can't keep it all bottled up - you have to let it out. And you can't do it alone - you have to be brave enough to share it with people who care about you. You have to let yourself be vulnerable enough to accept help. I hope that's part of what we're able to offer one another as we work through our situations in here."'

She is great at helping people and giving them good advice but she is human, and stuggles with relationships in her own life. She is torn between Chip and Ben and watching the struggle between her heart and hormones makes this story loads of fun.  

'I could help people. But there were only so many hours in a day - and I still had to leave time for a life of my own, or I'd have nothing to offer anyone else.'

I loved that Brook grew as a person in this story as she learned so much about herself, as well as helping other people figure themselves out. I really hope we will get to see more of Brook in the future, she has so much to teach us all.  

'... sometimes you have to get a little crazy to move past a broken heart...'

The Breakup Doctor

Book #1

You can read my thoughts about this wonderful book here. 

About the author

I love that Phoebe shares her 'official' bio with us but then also shares the 'real stuff' about herself. It made me smile. 

The official bio:  Phoebe Fox has been a contributor and regular columnist for a number of national, regional, and local publications; a movie, theater, and book reviewer; a screenwriter; an actress; and a game show host; and has even been known to help with homework revisions for nieces and nephews. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and two excellent dogs.

The bio I’d tell you over coffee and doughnuts: My earliest memories are words: sounding them out with the characters on The Electric Company and Sesame Street; trying to decipher signs as my mom drove me and my brother and sister around town; using (and misusing) new words I’d seen in magazines or advertisements or on TV. The first failure I remember is blowing the third-grade spelling bee when I got to the finals (“analyze”—I spelled it with an i instead of a y). Words and language have fascinated me as long as I can remember—and even more so, the worlds that can be created with them. Nearly every childhood picture of me shows me with my nose in a book. Stories were my sanctuary, my fantasy life, my dreams, and my escape from childhood sorrows. As I got older, I realized that what I loved most was reading about people, and how they think, what they do, and why. Shoot-’em-ups didn't grab me, and neither did mysteries or thrillers or horror. I wanted to examine people’s actions, and the psychology behind why we do what we do, and when I started writing (another earliest memory—as soon as I knew how, I had a pen in my hand), those were the kinds of tales I wanted to create.

Connect with Phoebe

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon | Twitter

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? March 23, 2015

Hello! Welcome to It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? This weekly meme, hosted by Book Journey, is where we share what we have read this past week and what our plans are for the upcoming week. It’s a great way to see what others are reading and to discover books to add to your own To Be Read list. You never know where that next great read may come from!

Click on the book image to read more on Goodreads. 

What I'm currently reading/listening to

Nameless Night
by G.M. Ford 
This is a book club pick. I am just getting started on it.

Closed Hearts (Mindjack Trilogy #2) 

by Susan Kaye Quinn (audio-book)

The Mindjack series is wonderful and I love listening to it.

What I recently finish reading

The Precious One
by Marisa de los Santos
My stop on it's tour is March 26.

What I think I'll read next

The Dream Lover: A Novel of George Sand
by Elizabeth Berg
I love EB but this one is really different from her other work.

I love my reading world!
What's going on in your reading world this week?

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Book Spotlight and a Giveaway! Glow (Sky Chasers #1) by Amy Kathleen Ryan

I have sooooo many books! I have a ton of print books and probably even more e-books. The Book Spotlight feature that I am going to try to post every Saturday is a way for me to clear my shelves and to share some of the books I have. There are a lot of different reasons that I might be letting some of my books go, the biggest one is that we recently moved and I discovered how many books I really do have. This feature is a way for my to cull my collection and to give someone else the opportunity to enjoy them.

The book that I am featuring this week is an ARC that I have had on my shelves for awhile now and I just don't think I will get around to reading it. I know someone will love to win it. 

Good luck and be sure to stop back next week!

Glow

Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan
Series: (Sky Chasers #1)

Published September 13th 2011 by St. Martin's Griffin

What if you were bound for a new world, about to pledge your life to someone you'd been promised to since birth, and one unexpected violent attack made survival—not love—the issue?

Out in the murky nebula lurks an unseen enemy: the New Horizon. On its way to populate a distant planet in the wake of Earth's collapse, the ship's crew has been unable to conceive a generation to continue its mission. They need young girls desperately, or their zealous leader's efforts will fail. Onboard their sister ship, the Empyrean, the unsuspecting families don't know an attack is being mounted that could claim the most important among them...

Fifteen-year-old Waverly is part of the first generation to be successfully conceived in deep space; she was born on the Empyrean, and the large farming vessel is all she knows. Her concerns are those of any teenager—until Kieran Alden proposes to her. The handsome captain-to-be has everything Waverly could ever want in a husband, and with the pressure to start having children, everyone is sure he's the best choice. Except for Waverly, who wants more from life than marriage—and is secretly intrigued by the shy, darkly brilliant Seth.

But when the Empyrean faces sudden attack by their assumed allies, they quickly find out that the enemies aren't all from the outside.

About the author

Amy Kathleen Ryan earned her MA from the University of Vermont, and her MFA from The New School in New York City.

Amy only reviews books she thinks are excellent.

Connect with Amy

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

This giveaway is for an ARC of Glow


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Book Blitz: The Space Between by Nikki Mathis Thompson, Some Teasers, and a Couple of Giveaways!

The Space Between

The Space Between by Nikki Mathis Thompson 

Publication date: March 20th 2015

Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Georgia Bristol’s life hasn’t turned out the way she’d imagined…but it’s a good life.

Despite that fact, she finds herself yearning for something she can’t define. Haunted by the choices of her youth.

Regrets. Everyone has them. What if? Everyone wonders at times.

Lost in town a few heartbeats shy of deserted, Georgia encounters a mysterious woman who gives her a second chance to regain the life she thought she missed out on.

Some say getting lost is the best way to find where you’re going. And sometimes everything must be stripped away before you realize that what you have, is what you wanted all along.

The Space Between is one woman’s unconventional journey to regain what she holds dear, filled with heartbreak, friendship, and love. A thought provoking tale that will have you relating to her struggles and celebrating her triumphs.

Teasers

'The dirt covered ground surrounding the bon fire was full of bodies—mingling, flirting, and drinking. She heard a shrill squeal and splash behind her. Why was she here again? Why wasn’t she under her covers reading, where she could be living Elizabeth Bennet’s life?  In theory, she should be enjoying herself. She was college bound after all, leaving the dregs of this podunk town far behind. But recent events had shaken her confidence. Recent events had made her question whether she had the strength to make it on her own, college and a new city. A city that had more than a Shell Station and a Dairy Queen.'

'Alcohol and a broken heart proved to be a toxic combination. In the months and years that followed she'd often wonder how her life would’ve been different if she’d stayed home or turned Nate down and kept to the shadows of the oak tree that night. But pondering the events that had already come to pass was an act of futility and never offered her anything other than frustration.'

'As a mom she was used to wearing many hats, while using both hands.'

'Men, either were proficient at faking unconsciousness, or became deaf after midnight.'

'Sometimes she came with a scream, sometimes a whimper…sometimes not all.'

'Men were notoriously obtuse when it came to a woman’s complex emotions. Whether the male sex was truly in the dark, or played at it flawlessly, would most likely remain a mystery.'

'She’d give anything to lose the uneasy feeling just beneath her skin. It crawled and itched. Kept her up at night. Uncertainty, not of what tomorrow would bring, but what she wanted from it.'

'They always joked about who would be the hotter mom when their kids married each other. Lucy said tan skin ages slower, so she would win hands down since Georgia’s “pasty white face will crack like a pie crust.” Georgia always said she would look statuesque and lean no matter her age, while Lucy’s “short veiny legs will make her look like a Hispanic hobbit in drag.”'

About the author

Nikki Mathis Thompson spent her formative years singing, dancing and creating her own world of make-believe. From an early age she developed a love of reading that has grown exponentially to near addiction. She has a business degree from the University of Texas at Dallas. Her degree looks great in the frame, but hasn't been utilized in years. She gladly left the cubicle life behind to raise her daughter and a son was added to the mix some years later. 

You can find her devouring a book while drinking a glass of wine, doing her part to save the planet or lip- synching to her favorite songs while running through her suburb. She lives outside of Dallas with her family. Rebound is her first novel.

Connect with Nkki

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Blitz Wide Giveaway

$20 Amazon or B&N Gift Card

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The Book Bag's Giveaway

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On Tour: Forty Days at Kamas (The Kamas Trilogy #1) by Preston Fleming

Forty Days at Kamas

Forty Days at Kamas (The Kamas Trilogy #1) 

by Preston Fleming

ebook

Published January 12th 2013 by PF Publishing

Inspired by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s account of a Soviet labor camp revolt in Gulag Archipelago, Volume III, the story of Forty Days at Kamas follows political prisoners and security officials at a corrective labor camp in Kamas, Utah, where inmates seize control during the summer of 2024.

Kamas, Utah. 2024. In the totalitarian dystopia that America has become after the Unionist Party’s rise to power, the American West contains vast Restricted Zones dotted with ghost towns, scattered military garrisons and corrective labor camps where the regime disposes of its real and suspected enemies. Kamas is one such camp.

On a frigid March night, a former businessman from Pittsburgh, Paul Wagner, arrives at a labor camp in Utah’s Kamas Valley, a dozen miles east of the deserted resort town of Park City, which prisoners are dismantling as part of a massive recycling project.

When Wagner arrives, he is unaware that his eleven-year-old daughter, Claire, has set off to Utah to find him after becoming separated from her mother at the Philadelphia Airport. By an odd quirk of fate, Claire has traveled on the same train that carried her father into internal exile.

Only after Wagner has renounced all hope of survival, cast his lot with anti-regime hard-liners and joined them in an unprecedented and suicidal revolt does he discover that Claire has become a servant in the home of the camp’s Deputy Warden. Wagner is torn between his devotion to family and loyalty to his fellow rebels until, on the eve of an armored assault intended to crush the revolt, he faces an agonizing choice between a hero’s death and a coward’s freedom.

In Forty Days at Kamas, author Preston Fleming offers a stirring portrait of a man determined to survive under the bleakest of conditions and against formidable odds. Fleming’s gift for evocative prose brings the characters and events to life in a way that arouses emotional tension while also engaging the reader’s intellect with fundamental questions about the future of American society.

PURCHASE 

Amazon - Kindle

*Borrow Free with Amazon Prime or Read with your Kindle Unlimited Membership* 

About the author

Preston Fleming was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He left home at age fourteen to accept a scholarship at a New England boarding school and went on to a liberal arts college in the Midwest. After earning an MBA, he managed a non-profit organization in New York before joining the U.S. Foreign Service and serving in U.S. Embassies around the Middle East for nearly a decade. Later he studied at an Ivy League law school and since then pursued a career in law and business. He has written five novels.

Connect with Preston

Website | Goodreads | Author Central | Twitter | Facebook

Follow the entire Forty Days at Kamas Tour HERE

Brought to you by Worldwind Virtual Book Tours

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