Book Review: Chosen by Denise Grover Swank

Everything Emma Thompson owns fits in a suitcase she moves from one roach infested motel to another. She and Jake, her five year old son who can see the future, are running from the men intent on taking him. Emma will do anything to protect him even when it means accepting the help of a stranger named Will. Jake insists she needs Will, but Emma’s never needed help before. And even though she’s learned to trust her son, it doesn’t mean she trusts Will.

Mercenary Will Davenport lives in the moment. Hauling Emma to South Dakota should have been an easy job, but his employer neglected to tell him about Emma’s freaky son and the gunmen hot on her trail. Instinct tells him this job is trouble, but nothing can prepare him for Jake’s proclamation that Will is The Chosen One, who must protect Emma from the men hunting her power. A power she doesn’t know she has.

Will protects Emma and Jake on a cross-country chase from the men pursuing them, while struggling with memories from his past, his apprehension of Jake, and his growing attraction to Emma. Will’s overwhelming urge to protect Emma surprises him, especially since it has nothing to do with his paycheck and possibly everything to do with the tattoo Jake branded on his arm. Rich and powerful men are desperate to capture Emma, and Will must discover why before it’s too late.

This is another book where I am struggling to come up with a review for. Not because the book was bad. It is the complete opposite. I couldn’t stop reading once I started, finding myself staying up later than intended because I needed to read “just one more page”. When I read Denise Grover Swank’s first book, “Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes”, I noticed that she had books in other genres as well and was thrilled when Samantha with Chick Lit Plus Blog Tours asked me if I was interested in reviewing two more books for Denise. The first one up was “Chosen”.

To sum the book up in one word – Intense. I was immediately drawn into the plight of Emma and her adorable and yet troubled son, Jake. Wise beyond his years, it was often Jake that seemed to be the one steering the wheel for them. Both are strong in their own ways, Emma wanting to protect her son at all cost and Jake, in return, wanting to protect his mother. Enter Will Davenport, clearly with an agenda in “assisting” Emma and Jake, but also just as clearly conflicted. It was the character of Will that I was most fascinated with and wanted to learn more about. Will falling in love with Emma, and vice versa, happened a little too fast for me. I wasn’t sure if I could believe they were in love or if it was the trauma of the situation they were in and turning to each other for comfort. But as the explanation about Jake and his “gift” was unveiled, it made sense.

While there is a love story of sorts that unfolds, this is not a romance book. It is a roller coaster ride, up and downs and your imagination is a requirement. Denise knows how to write a character that doesn’t have to say much to draw you into the story with vivid descriptions bringing the scenario to life. My second book from Denise and I give it a thumbs up!!

If you would like to learn more about Denise and her books, please visit her at any of the following:

Denise's website
Blog
Goodreads Author Page
Facebook
Twitter

If you leave a comment on Denise's Blog Tour Page, you will be entered to win a $10 Amazon gift card.

Review: Dollars to Donuts by Kathleen Kole

Take one newspaper columnist; move her from the anonymity of her home city to a sleepy, small town; add a dollop of nosey, suspicious and just plain odd neighbors; a dash of mystery in the form of a stained garbage can and a rodent and, finally, a large pinch of unsettling attraction to a virtual stranger and you’ll find yourself with a recipe that imitates April Patterson’s life.

Sound strange? It is.

April Patterson had no idea that when she decided to follow the path of family and love, she would find herself an unwitting player in an eyebrow raising cul-de-sac mystery, grasping for her privacy as she plays “Dodge the Neighbor” and being forced to examine her relationship motives ... all before she had unpacked her last box!

Taking a deep breath, and a large bite into a comforting donut, April consoles herself with the knowledge that it will all work out. It always does ... doesn’t it?

Oh Kathleeen Kole, you have done it again...you have given me another fun filled read, an adorably charming chick-lit novel. I love the character of April Patterson. I think of all the books I have reviewed this year, this is the one that I identified with the most. Accused by her sister, Jessica, of letting her life live her instead of the other way around, April evidently has a history of bouncing from one situation to the next. I can relate, most definitely.

The big problem starts when her live-in boyfriend, Kevin, brings home a house guest: His extremely attractive friend, Gerritt, who needs somewhere to stay after a freak accident destroys part of his house. You can't always control what your heart wants, especially when your head is already feeling restless. This is where all the insanity starts to ensue - crazy stalkers and even crazier neighbors. Seeing as how I think my neighbors are insane (hippies on one side, pigeon raising paranoid kooks on the other) I was amused to read all the gossip of the neighborhood. (I wonder what MY neighbors would do if dead squirrels started to show up on their doorsteps? Ha!)

I love Kathleen's writing style. She brings to life fun characters with a lot of spunk to them. I even gifted this book to my mom, who loved it as well! Give it a whirl, you are going to thank me for recommending this lovely author to you.



Kathleen Kole was born in Edmonton AB and graduated from college with a Diploma in Radio and Television Arts. Her career path has included writing in the fields of advertising, television and newspaper - and most recently novel writing. Kathleen relocated from Edmonton to Kelowna BC and resides there with her beloved husband, adored son and their happy-go-lucky dog. Dollars to Donuts is Kathleen's second published novel and she is currently working on her third, to be published in December.

Visit Kathleen at her website and on twitter.

If you go over to Kathleen's tour page at Chick Lit Plus Blog Tours and leave a comment you will be entered to win a $10 Amazon gift card.

Review: "Our Eyes Met Over Cantaloupe" by Anne McAneny

A wedding order at The Secret Lives of Cupcakes Shop is always reason for Millie Morris to celebrate – except when the groom is her ex-boyfriend and the bride is the woman he dumped her for. Still, it’s business for her mom’s shop. Millie even makes a good-faith effort to shoo the groom away when he confides his doubts about the marriage. But when Millie's job as a crime reporter finds her covering a big court case, she must choke down her unresolved feelings like a burnt cupcake slathered in bitter frosting… because the bride is the lead lawyer on the case. Unexpectedly intertwined on multiple levels with both her ex and his fiancée, Millie must choose to either remain in her half-baked state of existence or finally rise above it.

I am a big fan of chick lit books, obviously. I particularly love when they are laugh out loud funny and this book was just that. Millie Morris finds herself in one predicament after another and has to rely on her quick wits to help her rise above the claws of her ex's new fiancee, Laura. The ex is also proving to be quite a problem as Sam has decided to unload all his doubts about his upcoming nuptials on Millie. Anne McAneny has created a cast of zany characters that will make you smile.

The side stories are entertaining, particularly co-worker at the cupcake shop, Josh, and his quest to find his "mystery angel". I had a few moments of getting uptight when Sam kept coming around and Millie was starting to question her feelings. Luckily there is a hunky truck driver and a mystery man from the grocery store to spice this story up.

I have to warn that you will end up craving cupcakes, by the way. Each chapter is named for an actual cupcake and I had to stifle the urge to run to Sprinkles a couple of times.

This is a fun read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. And Anne, I have a big bone to pick with you - I have had "Jesse" by Carly Simon on my mind since I read this!



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Anne McAneny lives in Virginia with her husband, children, two ferrets and a cat who currently answers to Mythical Flarb or Food. In addition to three e-books, Anne has written several screenplays that float through Hollywood on a regular basis. Her latest chick-lit novel, OUR EYES MET OVER CANTALOUPE, features Stuffed Cupcakes and Belgian beer... she really should have called it "Personal Nirvana." Her previous chick-lit novel, CHUNNELING THROUGH FORTY, sold well enough to gain the interest of literary agent April Eberhardt, who now represents her. Not limited to one genre, Anne has also written FORETELLER, a mystery-thriller that takes readers on a heart-pounding journey into the past with a doomed archaeologist who must fight to ensure her own future. Anne loves to hear from readers and wishes everyone HAPPY READING!


Anne's blog
Facebook
Kindle Author Page
Twitter
Nook page

For something fun, if you visit Anne's page on Chick Lit Plus Blog Tours and leave a comment you will be entered to win a $10 Amazon gift card AND a dozen stuffed cupcakes from Stuffed Cupcakes. (Just a warning, don't be hungry when you check out that site or you are going to be drooling on your keyboard.)

Guest Post: Inspired From The Heart by author, Heather Hummel

Inspired from the Heart

Heather Hummel

I was just nine years old when I had open heart surgery. As a third grader, this was naturally quite traumatic, especially in 1974 when medical advances weren’t near what they are today. I missed a significant amount of school due to the surgery and recovery. And yet, the fall of ‘74 signifies my earliest memory of focusing on being a writer. Certainly my writings were youthful in nature. Some were journal entries; some were short stories and poems. Yet, these were the beginnings of my interest in writing, and signified the pieces that I shared with the one writer who inspired me.

My grandmother, Dorothy Crispo, was not your typical fuzzy-top, spaghetti making grandmother. She was a dynamic, international traveler and business woman who spent much of her youth and early adult life in the 1940’s through ‘60’s between California, New York and South America. But it wasn’t until she put her suitcase down and picked up a pen that her writing career was defined. Though she penned two books, it was her gag writing that set her apart from other writers. As one of the top “gag writers” in New York City in the ‘40s and ‘50s, she wrote a newspaper column titled Dear Dorothy that was akin to Ann Landers, but with a saucy, spunky twist. The top cartoonists of those times sought her out as their gag writer for their submissions to periodicals such as the Saturday Evening Post. Her gag writing even launched the careers of comedians such as Joan Rivers.

It was this writer, Mima to me, who inspired me because she didn’t conform to one genre. She wrote from the heart, using wit and substance at the core. With seven fluent languages to her tongue, Mima,a stunning, elegant blond, whose wit was as sharp as her wardrobe was later a translator in the California court systems, hence her book How to Speak Everyday Spanish. Mima wrote about topics that inspired her, and in turn, that is what has inspired me.

There are authors who influence us, and there are authors who inspire us. Quite a distinct difference. For example, John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley is a book, among two others, that has influenced my newest novel $1 and $100. When $1 and $100 is published, I will be traveling much like Steinbeck did to talk to people of all walks of life about $1 and $100’s theme: how do you relate to money? Like Steinbeck, I too will be on a cross country voyage with my dogs (my eighth, their fourth), as I develop a documentary to balance the novel’s message.

As someone who has been inspired to follow her heart as a writer, I have taken on projects that range from my own novels to celebrity ghostwriting to my own nonfiction book. My career started out when I became a feature writer for a family magazine something I did while I taught high school English. Since those days, I have managed to find consistency in the seeming melting-pot of my career. I, like my grandmother, write from the heart. And, this governing theme became the core of my novel’s series…Journals from the Heart. The first two novels WHISPERS FROM THE HEART and WRITE FROM THE HEART focus on journal writing from the heart. From a high school English teacher who inspires her students through journal writing (WHISPERS) to a single woman who uses her journals as a reflection on lost loves and as anticipation of her future (WRITE), the essence of writing from the heart remains pure.



Certainly there are modern day authors whom I respect many whose works I’ve read, enjoyed and have even been influenced by. But, since I was inspired at an age and a time when I didn’t know if I would even see my teen years (due to my heart condition), let alone excel in adulthood as an author, the role model of my grandmother during my youth is singly my one inspiration.

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Thank you, Heather, for such a beautiful guest post. And thank you to Samantha, as always, for inviting me to participate in this blog tour.

Heather Hummel is the author of the Journals from the Heart Series. She is an award winning author and celebrity ghostwriter.
Her published works include:
Journals from the Heart Series: Whispers from the Heart (2011 eBook) and Write from the Heart (2011 eBook)
Nonfiction: GO BIKE & Other Signs from the Universe (2011 eBook) and Gracefully: Looking and Being Your Best at Any Age (McGraw Hill, 2008), - Merit Award of the 2009 Mature Media Awards,

Heather's books have appeared in newspapers such as: Publishers Weekly, USA Today and the Washington Post; and in magazines that include: Body & Soul, First, and Spry Living, a combined circulation of nearly 15 million.Visit Heather at her website
You can also find her at:
Heather on Twitter
Heather on Facebook

Leave a comment on Heather's blog tour page to be entered to win a $10 gift card to Amazon: Blog Tour Page
If you purchase your copy of Whispers from the Heart from October 7- 31 and send your receipt to Samantha (at) ChickLitPlus (dot) com, you will get five bonus entries!**

Review: Whispers from the Heart by Heather Hummel

Whispers: The heart's way of speaking...

Madison Ragnar is a high school English teacher determined to connect with her students, to finish the next running race with a respectable time, and to avoid ever falling in love again.

But life has other plans for Madison. A man named Michael shows himself in the most unexpected places, raising questions from her best friend, Olivia, and issues around Madison's last relationship.

In the classroom, the death of a student prompts her grieving ninth graders to depend on her for answers. They turn to journal writing as a form of understanding the weight of what's happened in the walls of their teenage existence.

When Madison meets Phil, who throws a wrench in her declaration to not fall in love, it seems that her escape through miles of running is the only real footing she has in life.

Will fate determine Madison's life? Or will she have a say in its outcome?

I have to admit that this is a hard review for me to write up. I have started and re-started it numerous times over the last couple of days. There is so much I want to say and yet have to be very careful what I am saying so as not to spoil the book."Go read this book" doesn't do it the justice it deserves. Heather Hummel has wrote such a heartfelt and touching book. Madison Ragnar was such an intriguing character. One of those that made you want to hug her and tell her it is going to be okay.

I really loved that Madison's past was not delved too deeply into, just enough to let you know that there was a bad relationship and that Madison wasn't willing to put her heart into another situation where she could get hurt. I admit that I was very leery of Michael's presence and each time he showed up I kept waiting for a big bombshell. When it was finally revealed I have to honestly say I never expected it. And Phil...where in real life is a man like him? Because I am calling dibs on him! The swerve of the love story was handled so rationally. I don't know if I could have handled it that way, but I liked it.

The death of the student was handled delicately and it was heartbreaking. It showed so much strength in Madison to keep herself in control and not fall apart in front of the children in the classroom.

If you want a book that is going to pull at your heart in numerous directions, this is the book for you. I cried, I cheered for Madison to find herself, and I smiled as she learned to trust herself to love again. This is the first of a trilogy and I'm anxious to read the next book and find what Heather has in store for her readers.


Heather Hummel is the author of the Journals from the Heart Series. She is an award winning author and celebrity ghostwriter.
Her published works include:
Journals from the Heart Series: Whispers from the Heart (2011 eBook) and Write from the Heart (2011 eBook)
Nonfiction: GO BIKE & Other Signs from the Universe (2011 eBook) and Gracefully: Looking and Being Your Best at Any Age (McGraw Hill, 2008), - Merit Award of the 2009 Mature Media Awards,

Heather's books have appeared in newspapers such as: Publishers Weekly, USA Today and the Washington Post; and in magazines that include: Body & Soul, First, and Spry Living, a combined circulation of nearly 15 million.Visit Heather at her website
You can also find her at:
Heather on Twitter
Heather on Facebook

Leave a comment on Heather's blog tour page to be entered to win a $10 gift card to Amazon: Blog Tour Page
If you purchase your copy of Whispers from the Heart from October 7- 31 and send your receipt to Samantha (at) ChickLitPlus (dot) com, you will get five bonus entries!**

Interview with Author, JF Kristin

1 - Did you always aspire to be a writer?

I've been writing since very early childhood, and before I could write stories down myself, I used to tell them to my parents. So yes, definitely! Reading and creative writing were my favorite parts of elementary school. While Rock Star's Girl is my debut novel, if you asked my parents, they'd probably tell you that it was really a short novel I wrote as a kid about the adventures of four dogs named Clover, Flower, Grass, and Leaf.

2 - Who or what has been your biggest inspiration?

Writing-wise, my biggest inspiration is anyone out there who launches a book, whether they're doing so independently or through a publisher. There is so much more that goes into getting a book out there into the world than completing that first draft. In terms of being part of the arts world, my biggest inspiration is everyone out there who follows their bliss and creates because they love it. Kudos to all of you.

Life-wise, my parents have been my biggest inspiration. They've encouraged my writing for my entire life, and always taught me that there are no limitations to what I can do. Their support and love have inspired me in all parts of my life, for my entire life.

3 - The rock star girlfriend dream is one that many women have at some point in their lives. Who was your rock star crush?

Although I've dated a few musicians, I'm not sure I've ever had a rock star crush -- actually, that's not true. When I was 16, I did have a rock star crush on the keyboard player in a Canadian band that will not be named, because a friend ended up becoming part of that band years later and so I've since met him! I think it was all about his hair. I will fully admit that I used to have a thing for rock star hair.

Right now I jokingly say I have a writer crush (not rock star crush) on Mikel Jollett of The Airborne Toxic Event. By that I mean that I have the utmost respect for him as a writer. Back in April, I ended up at a show the band did at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, and before that night, knew all of two songs by them. By the time they played a song called "All For A Woman" that night, I was hooked on the band's lyrics. Not long after, I was looking up something online and came across an article Jollett had written several years before the band's existence. To say his writing blew me away is an understatement. He has an ability to paint scenes, images, and stories with words that is remarkable and very rare.

4 - Have you thought about going back and telling more of this story? What further predicaments Emily can get herself into?

Given that Emily lives in L.A., there is probably no shortage of predicaments she can get herself into. The city is a non-stop adventure. I haven't thought about revisiting Emily yet, although I have had thoughts about two other "rock star" books involving different characters and entirely different aspects of the music world.

5 - How did you celebrate the selling of your first book?

I think I let myself have a nap, and the celebration happened the next weekend after I'd caught up on sleep and more books were sold. The days leading up to launching a book are incredibly busy, or at least they were for me. Because of that, and because I'm out celebrating friends' birthdays or other events, or going to concerts or comedy shows, or just meeting up with friends all the time, I think sleep can feel like celebrating!

6 - What's your advice for writers just starting out in terms of dealing with rejection?

Don't take rejection personally, and understand that writing is a business. If someone passes on your work, that isn't an agent or editor or publisher rejecting you personally, or even necessarily your writing skill. The last few years haven't produced an easy economy to work with, which can also make the writing world more of a challenge for new writers. Just keep writing, and believing in your writing, but also listen to any feedback agents, editors, other writers, and your readers take the time to give you.

7 – If you were to make your book into a movie, who is your dream cast?

I think I need a month of catching up on recently-released movies to truly answer this! The last year and a half has been really busy, so I haven't kept up on some of the rising actors out there who might fit the bill for 'dream cast.' I think Kristen Bell could make a really fun Emily, though.

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Thank you, Jennifer, for such a fun interview!

You should not only check out "Rock Star's Girl", which was such a great book, but check out Jennifer's bio. She lives by the mantra of "Dream Big" and I think her philosophy is fascinating.

Jennifer's website
Jennifer's Twitter

Thank you, Samantha from Chick Lit Plus Blog Tours, for including me in this tour!

**Photograph used courtesy of Jeff Ryan Photography**

Review: Rock Star's Girl by JF Kristin

Emily Watts just wants a weekend break from the workaholic hours she’s taken on to keep her business – a popular fashion-snark web site – up and running. What she gets is overnight celebrity and a career-killing media scandal.

While taking time out to attend a concert in support of friend Jesse Cinder, a struggling musician, Emily meets Cory Sampson, the lead singer of a chart-topping rock band. When she agrees to a date with Cory, making entertainment headlines is the last thing she expects. Even so, it’s a minor surprise by comparison to her discovery that in the music world, media notoriety trumps all. Tabloid allegations erupt when Cory and fame-hungry Jesse use Emily for personal gain, and her tarnished image spells disaster – personally and professionally. To save the web site and writing career she’s made her life and dream, Emily must go from being a pawn in the Hollywood headline game to becoming the media mastermind.

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Do you remember being a young girl and having that rock star girl fantasy? I do! It was Rick Springfield and I didn’t care if he was 20+ years older than me, I wanted to marry him. When Samantha from Chick Lit Plus Blog Tours asked me if I wanted to review JF Kristin’s book “Rock Star’s Girl”, I was hooked the second I read the synopsis.

I loved this book. I found it so fascinating for the little glimpse into the life of a rock star's “girlfriend”. In what appears to be such a superficial world, I loved that Emily kept her head together the best she could. And I love that she had that best friend, Shelby, to help keep her feet planted on the ground. I’m not a big fan of the tabloids (refuse to read them) or gossip sites (TMZ gets my attention every once in a while) because of the very reason they are portrayed in this book – they are there to cause drama.

The character of Emily was absolutely charming. She is your every girl that gets herself mixed up in the spotlight of fame and has to find herself while allowing herself to fall in love as well. The ending of "Rock Star’s Girl" was not typical, which I think worked perfectly for the situation that Emily found herself in. The supporting characters were interesting and tied the story together perfectly. I went back and forth over Jesse and Cory. Both had high and low points, too bad their desire for fame interfered with them honestly being in love with Emily. (Or allowing themselves to show how in love with Emily they were without needing to capitalize on publicity, as the case may be.)

I can’t recommend this book enough. If you are a fan of the music scene or ever just wondered “what if” about a rock star, this is going to grab your attention and hold it from page one through the end. The tale that JF Kristin wove is compelling, well thought out, and just when you think you know where Emily is going, you get hit with a twist.
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BIO:


(Picture courtesy of Jeff Ryan Photography)

J.F. Kristin (Jennifer) has been writing since the day she picked up a navy blue Crayola as a toddler and began scribbling on her parents' freshly painted white walls. When not writing novels, Jennifer writes about both writing and ecommerce, and previously spent a number of years as a freelance promotional writer and web designer for musicians. In the early days of the Web, she ran the Society for Preventing Parents from Naming Their Children Jennifer (SPPNTCJ), a tongue-in-cheek web site that welcomed millions of visitors during its run, received coverage from print, broadcast, and online media, was included in an academic textbook, and was studied on a college course. Jennifer is currently at work on her second novel.

Jennifer's website
Jennifer's Twitter

See what people are saying (and buy your copy) at the following:
Rock Star's Girl at Amazon
Apple iBooks
Barnes & Noble
Goodreads
Smashwords

Tune in tomorrow for a fun interview with Jennifer.

Guest Post: To Know and To Love by Shannon Hart

To Know and To Love

I’ll be completely honest here, when I found out I was doing a guest post, I was jumping up and down in my room for about five minutes until I realized I didn’t know what to write about. Then, panic started to set in.

I knew I had a bit of time, but still, my mind was racing searching through corners of my brain to find a so-called brilliant topic to write about, something that would blow readers’ minds away. I went to my dear friend Samantha, asking her if she could give me some tips as well and she came up with much better ideas than I had, of course, but then I realized why those ideas were so good: they were about things I knew well.

I don’t know about other writers, but for me, before I wrote Until the End of Forever, I was hopping from genre to genre, looking for my niche. There was this phase that I had where I was writing children’s stories but then I would always start one, get stuck, and stop. Then, I went on to writing Young Adult stories. Short stories were fine, but when it came down to trying to write a whole 70,000 words novel, I couldn’t get past chapter 16! The voices sounded young, the characters were dynamic and exciting, but the issues were issues that I wasn’t sure today’s youth would get. I had to finally admit that I wasn’t young anymore (and cry about that for a few hours), and that I wasn’t that in sync with what the young one’s were dealing with these days. And being a mom to two toddlers didn’t really help either. The problems they were dealing with were more about what to watch and what to play than anything else. I kept all the chapters, but I haven’t touched them again since – and probably won’t until I get to actually spend time with real young adults and understand what matters to them most these days.

Then, on one magical night… Scratch that. Sounded way too corny. One evening, when I was feeling a bit of pressure on my own marriage because of some silly fight we had (I don’t even remember what it was about anymore but it was probably ridiculously lame), I decided I knew exactly what I should have been writing about all along: marriage. Not necessarily about my own marriage, but seeing as that I had been married for quite sometime, and since I was (and still am) a member of a married couples group, the amount of knowledge I had about marital issues exceeded the knowledge I had about almost anything else. When I started writing about my main characters’ – Rob and Sarah – relationship, I started with just background notes scribbled on an old notebook listing who they were, what they were like and how their personalities could potentially end up in conflict and from there, everything was smooth sailing right down to the end.

I developed a personal relationship with all my characters. Call me crazy or whatever (my husband certainly thought I was, he just never said it out loud), but at times, I felt like I was watching the two of them in a movie in my head. I watched how Rob and Sarah met, their wedding, and even their magical wedding night – though that part didn’t actually make the cut and ended up being edited out.

My point is (yes, there is a point here, I promise), when you write what you know, you’ll love your work even more because that’s what you’re passionate about. That sense of satisfaction when you read the final copy before it goes to print is just so overwhelming because you know what you’ve written is something so close to your heart.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with challenging your abilities and writing out of your comfort zone either. This is great for those who can power through the difficulties and just do it. If you can, by all means, go for it! But for other writers, who know they have a voice but just can’t seem to get it together that first time around, I say (humbly), go back to the drawing board and start putting together things that you know; things you love; things you care about. It just makes it a heck of a lot easier. Not to say that writing should be easy, of course, but it builds your confidence and that’s important because at the end of the day, you have to love what you have written. And don’t worry about bad reviews because you know what, everything is so subjective. Everything they say about your story is just a matter of opinion so even though some may not like it, others will. Don’t think about how what you write has already been written before because hey, is there really anything new in this world? The issues are all still the same. It’s just a matter of packaging it differently and adding twists to it. Personally, and I emphasize here that this opinion really is personal, if writing is truly your passion, then you’re writing for you, not for anyone else. So really, what matters is what you love.

A very special thank you goes to Michelle Bell for welcoming me on her wonderful blog and giving me this opportunity to post, and to Samantha Robey, my friend, my editor and my kick-ass blog tour coordinator who is nothing short of a miracle worker. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: you’re the best!

Thank you so much, Shannon, for such a delightful guest post and I'm so honored to have hosted you on my blog during your blog tour!

Come say hello to Shannon at the following places: website, blog, or twitter.

For something totally fun, if you leave a comment on Shannon's tour page, you will be entered to win a $10 Amazon gift card.

Review: Until the End of Forever by Shannon Hart

“Sarah Matthews has everything in the world a woman could wish for: a loving husband; two beautiful children; a small business which she runs together with her sister-in-law; and even her own top of the range car. Why then does she keep having recurring nightmares?

Over a friendly lunch with her ex-lady boss, seeds of doubt and discontent begin to gnaw at her, and the realization dawns that she is no longer free to live a life of her own as she would wish. When offered the opportunity, therefore, to go to work in Paris for a month she finds herself unable to resist.

As Sarah takes us along with her on her journey, we are given a privileged insight into the workings of the female mind as her thoughts and feelings tumble around in an attempt to find answers."

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The premise of this book sounded so interesting that I couldn't wait to read it. The first couple pages had me slightly concerned as they dealt with a recurring nightmare that Sarah was having. That nightmare was of herself drowning and as someone with hydrophobia, I cringed as I was reading it. Voicing my thought on this on Twitter led to some reassurance from Shannon Hart that it was the only time it was talked about in depth. With that in mind I plugged on and am so glad that I did as this was just one of those books that makes you smile when it ends how you want it to.


Sarah has what seems to be the perfect life with the perfect husband, the perfect children, home, and jobs. But what about those nightmares? That is definitely not the sign of something "perfect". When her old boss offers her a chance to go to Paris for a few weeks on her own, Sarah takes the offer. Husband, Rob, doesn't take the news very well. How do you gracefully handle your wife telling you she is unhappy and needs to take a break from you? Regardless, Sarah jets off to Paris where she gets the time to do some self evaluating. A tragedy at home cuts the trip short and when she returns, she finds things aren't as perfect as they ever appeared.

I really enjoyed this book. I think that Sarah was such a charming character and despite her flaws she was genuine. She made rash decisions that weren't thought out and she made well thought out decisions. She learned a lesson and did it with all the human qualities. I didn't always enjoy her husband, Rob. A lot of times he felt very selfish but he ultimately showed the type of man he was.

The nightmares of drowning really made sense as I read this book. Sarah was "drowning" in a way because she was so unsettled with where she was in her life. As perfect as everything was on the outside, she was no fulfilled on the inside. Her journey to finding her perfection was a compelling read and I greatly enjoyed it. Shannon Hart's debut novel was such a lovely book and I hope that there will be more to come soon from such a talented lady.

You can find out more information about Shannon and her writing, or just to say hello at the following: website, blog, or twitter.

If you leave a comment on Shannon's tour page, you will be entered to win a $10 Amazon gift card.

Inspiration: A guest post by Lacy Camey

Inspiration comes in many forms for many different people. Some are inspired by the moment, others are inspired by an idea, others by a person, a muse, but I find inspiration for me comes from within.

You see, if I won the lottery tomorrow and was awarded 100 million dollars and was told, “Do whatever you want with your life” – I would write. Of course I would travel, but while I would travel, I would write.

And sure I’d go to quite a few spas and relaxing places, but while maybe on the exterior I’d be relaxing, I couldn’t help but think about stories, characters, dialogue, ideas. I would just have to write.

Put me in a cave without paper or pen, I’m sure I would figure a way to transcribe a story.

It’s just in me to write and tell stories! Does that mean I’m just itching to write your research paper or article for work? Um, no! Haha. I think there is a difference for me. I have inspiration and a strong desire to write stories and be a story-teller and to not write academic books.

I feel like if I didn’t write stories, something would feel missing. It would be as if I had this terrible itch and it would never go away

It’s like a singer born with the gift to sing. It doesn’t matter who hears her, she has to sing. She sings in the shower, in the car on the road, at the store, it’s just what she does.

The joy I feel when I write is so self fulfilling and satisfying. Besides the innate drive inside of me to write, I find inspiration in the end result, as well.

I love meeting people, hearing what they are going through in life, encouraging others and connecting. I love conversations and meeting new people. It’s one of my favorite things. I also love being able to make a difference with my book revenues-helping orphanages and making a tangible difference.

I love making people laugh and smile. When someone tells me they had fun reading my book, that’s the greatest compliment ever.

As far as making a career out of writing fiction for the rest of my life, the thing that inspires me the most is knowing I have chosen a career where, when my husband and I decide to raise a family, I will be able to be home with my future children. That’s very important to me and always has been.

Being cozy also inspires me to write. That warm cup of coffee and tea, cozy clothes, soft blankets, my warm cuddly cat. Too bad I live in the deep south where it never snows! I think maybe if I lived a little bit more up north, I would be inspired by the cold weather. Speaking of weather, thunderstorms inspire me to write as well. Water inspires me, too. Ocean, lake, river, fountains. There is something very creative about water.

Art is a very beautiful thing. Art is like adding color into the world. Writing is a literary art and I hope the color I bring to the world through my stories is bright turquoise.

Thanks for having me. Whatever you decide to do in life, let your inspiration guide you into bliss and peace.

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Thank you, Lacy, for such an inspiring post. And thank you to both you and Samantha for including me in your blog tour. I loved your book and can't wait for the second in what is sure to be a highly successful career for you!

If you want to get to know the talented and lovely, Lacy Camey, you can do so at the following:

Lacy's website
Lacy's twitter
Lacy's Facebook
Amazon Link
Barnes & Noble Link

Win a $10 Amazon Gift Card! From now until the end of Lacy's blog tour (Oct 10th), if you leave a comment on her blog tour page, you are entered to win: Lacy's CLP Blog Tour Page. That's all you have to do! If you buy the book and email a copy of the receipt to Samantha at CLP, you get a bonus entry!

Review: The Last Page by Lacy Camey

Norah Johnson is at a crossroads and is in desperate need to heal after a highly publicized breakup from her major league baseball player boyfriend. To escape, she moves to her summer home at the beach with her sister and best friend where she journals, attends therapy and works on her pending clothing line. When a gorgeous stranger finds her lost journal, he seeks to find the author and make her fall in love with him. But is Norah ready to love again?

Lacy Camey's debut novel is a sweet journey as Norah Johnson goes from heartbreak at the hands of her New York Yankee ex-boyfriend to healing with the help of her family, best friend, and a new man. A gorgeous setting on the beach helps bring this book to life as this novel takes shape.Norah's spiral out of control and into depression alarms those closest to her, finally resulting in her parents insisting she visit a therapist and then move into the family beach house for the summer to get over her break up. I wish all down times in life could be handled like this. The side story of her sister, Maycee, and her absentee boyfriend is a nice break in the main story. There is nothing worse than the secondary story overlapping the heroine. The hero, the gorgeous stranger, Orien, who finds her lost journal, is just a little too good to be true. But Lacy ties everything together so perfectly that it all works. As this is the first book in a trilogy, she spends enough time introducing you to the cast of characters that leaves you wondering what their story will be. This was a lovely read and a great debut novel. I'm excited to read the next book in the series.

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Lacy Camey is a fiction writer and lives in Houston, Texas with her musician/producer/songwriter husband, Joel, and has a cat who acts like a dog, named Blue. When she isn't writing, or collaborating with her husband, she enjoys being outside, running, working out, reading, cooking, is a huge movie buff and loves watching reality shows on Bravo, especially The Real Housewives franchise. She loves having fun, enjoying the life God has given her and loves to encourage others to follow their bliss. She secretly dreams of going on the Amazing Race with her husband on CBS but is still trying to convince him to audition. Every book written by Lacy Camey purchased by others, a portion goes to supporting an orphanage in Southern America. Lacy has plans to build an orphanage very soon with proceeds from her books. You can stay updated on the process at her blog at www.lacycameywrites.com.
Lacy would love to stay in contact with her readers. Feel free to visit her blog and website at www.lacycameywrites.com or follow her on twitter @lacycamey or e-mail: lacycameywrites (at) gmail (dot) com
Lacy's website
Lacy's twitter
Lacy's Facebook
Amazon Link
Barnes & Noble Link

Win a $10 Amazon Gift Card! From now until the end of Lacy's blog tour (Oct 10th), if you leave a comment on her blog tour page, you are entered to win: Lacy's CLP Blog Tour Page. That's all you have to do! If you buy the book and email a copy of the receipt to Samantha at CLP, you get a bonus entry!

Review: Twenty-Eight and a half wishes by Denise Grover Swank

For Rose Gardner, working at the DMV on a Friday afternoon is bad even before she sees a vision of herself dead. She’s had plenty of visions, usually boring ones like someone’s toilet’s overflowed, but she’s never seen one of herself before. When her overbearing momma winds up murdered on her sofa instead, two things are certain: There isn't enough hydrogen peroxide in the state of Arkansas to get that stain out, and Rose is the prime suspect.

Rose realizes she’s wasted twenty-four years of living and makes a list on the back of a Wal-Mart receipt: twenty-eight things she wants to accomplish before her vision comes true. She’s well on her way with the help of her next door neighbor Joe, who has no trouble teaching Rose the rules of drinking, but won’t help with number fifteen-- do more with a man. Joe’s new to town, but it doesn’t take a vision for Rose to realize he’s got plenty secrets of his own.

Somebody thinks Rose has something they want and they’ll do anything to get it. Her house is broken into, someone else she knows is murdered, and suddenly, dying a virgin in the Fenton County jail isn’t her biggest worry after all.

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As a compulsive list maker, I was immediately intrigued by the premise of Denise Grover Swank's new book. Okay, granted I don't have psychic visions or have to worry about someone out to murder me (I don't think anyway), but list making, I have down! Rose Gardner is your typical heroine. She has grown up facing hardship in the form of a mother that treats her more like an inconvenient housekeeper more than treating her like a daughter, feeling that she has to give her freedom to making sure her mother is taken care of. She has these nagging psychic visions that cause her to speak out about them without thinking most times and most people don't understand so she feels like an outcast. Her sister is married with children, having a very charmed life that Rose is not going to have. Then she envisions a customer at the DMV killing her and life takes quite the detour. When her mother ends up getting murdered instead of her, Rose finds herself under suspicion and enter sexy next door neighbor, Joe, who of course is carrying secrets.

I really enjoyed this book. As "typical" as the heroine is, there is so much charm and delight in the character of Rose that you can't help but just love her. This was one of those books that I kept telling myself one more page, then I need to put it down. Instead I found myself tearing through the book instead, needing to know the outcome. (And for the record, I was wrong on who I thought was behind it all, thankfully!) It is a definite recommendation and Denise Grover Swank is going to be entertaining for years to come with fun characters and interesting stories to tell.

You can find out about Denise and her books at the following:
Denise's website
Denise on Twitter
Denise on Facebook

Q&A with author Denise Grover Swank

As part of the Chick Lit Plus Blog Tour for the book Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes, I had the chance to interview the author, the delightful Denise Grover Swank. I hope you enjoy the interview!

1) Who and what inspired you to become a writer?

I've always written, since I was a kid. I loved getting lost in stories. I started my first book in fourth grade, inspired by a dream, and wrote 70 spiral bound pages before I stopped. But it was my high school English teacher, Mrs. Davis, who made me believe I was good and that writing was worthwhile. I dedicated Twenty-Eight Wishes to her.

2) You have wrote Chicklit, a paranormal thriller, and a young adult novel. Which is your favorite genre and is there one that you haven't wrote in yet but are looking forward to?

I also have a middle grade half way completed in first draft. I read lots of genres and you hear "tell the story you want to tell." Even with all the different genres, they're actually not so different. They all involve some type of mystery or unknown. They all have moments that are tense, exciting or thrilleresque. And they all have some type of fantastical element.

I like having the freedom to write both dark and intense-- my paranormal thriller series-- and also fun and light hearted-- Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes.

3) What is your cure for writer's block?

Keep writing. Seriously, especially in first draft. It might suck but you can fix it later. That's the whole point of editing.

4) In your book, Rose has a list of twenty-eight wishes. Do you have a similar list?

I have things I want to do but I haven't written them down the list tends to evolve. I add new things and others drop off. But Rose's list came from a time in my life after my husband died and I realized that if I didn't live now, I might never get the chance. I look at life differently now and try to make every moment count.

5)Twenty-Eight and a half wishes" is listed as book one. Do you already have a second book plotted out?

I have three more books for Rose semi-plotted out. I'm eager to start on her next book! I miss her.

6) My favorite question to ask of any writer - Who would you cast in a movie of your book?

Funny you should ask. I just figured this out a week or so ago. Rose: Ginnifer Goodwin Joe: Scott Foley Violet: Piper Perabo Daniel Crocker: James Frain Mildred: Randee Heller I have yet to find someone for Sloan. He'd be fun to cast.

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Thank you, Denise, for the fun interview!

You can find out about Denise and her books at the following:
Denise's website
Denise on Twitter
Denise on Facebook

Guest post: Thoughts on friends with benefits by Meredith Schorr

The title of my book is Just Friends With Benefits. Did you hear about the new movie called Friends With Benefits starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis? So did I and, no, there is no association between my book and the movie.

I cannot tell you how many people have said that to me, a chuckle in their voice or an "LOL" at the end of their email, like they are SO funny and original and like I'd never heard it before. Stating for the record, I've heard it before and it's not that funny. No offense.

Anyhoo, yes the title of my novel is Just Friends With Benefits and my main character, Stephanie, sleeps with her old crush from college who is also a friend. He labels it "friends with benefits." She plays along but secretly wants more.

I had obviously heard the phrase "friends with benefits" ("FWB") before I wrote the book. It's pretty popular these days and I used it in my title hoping to entice readers to buy the book. I've never, however, had a FWB myself. I just don't know if I could handle it. I'm pretty selective about who I sleep with and need a certain amount of physical attraction. I'm also pretty selective about my friends and only befriend people I genuinely like and enjoy spending time with. So, the way I see it, if I'm attracted enough to want to sleep with a man, yet like him enough as a person to call him my friend, chances are, I'm going to want him to be my "boy" friend and having sex with him regularly is probably going to make it worse. And I'll keep hoping that the FWB status will segue into a relationship, it probably won't (since my life is not a romantic comedy movie), I'll waste time, get my heart broken and likely lose my friend in the process. No thanks.

The FWB concept does not work in the movies either. The characters in No Strings Attached took their friendship up a notch and became friends with benefits. Then they fell in love. I haven't seen the movie yet but would be willing to bet my next royalty check that Justin and Mila's characters in Friends with Benefits eventually fell in love too. If the FWB status worked for them, there would have been no desire to upgrade to boyfriend and girlfriend. Although I'm aware that No Strings Attached and Friends With Benefits are fictional stories, I suppose real-life FWBs sometimes become boyfriend and girlfriend too, but more likely, I think one of the two is quietly praying for an upgrade and like my main character, feeling bad about herself that her "buddy" doesn't want to be her boyfriend. (And I'm sure in some cases it is the man who secretly wants more.) And while I would not be able to blame my FWB for any wrong doing since the rules of a FWB relationship are clear, anyone who makes me feel not good enough, purposely or not, should not be allowed to see me naked. I truly believe a one night stand makes more sense for me than an FWB. And that statement should not be taken to mean I have regular one night stands. But it would be more likely than a FWB. I just don't think it works most of the time.

It's worth noting that my opinion comes from my own stage in life as a single, never-been-married woman who is still looking for "the one." It would be different if a guy friend and I starting dating with the best intentions and it didn't work out. I could live with that since no relationship comes with a success guarantee, but I'd be afraid to get too caught up in a no-strings sexual relationship with someone I might honestly see myself getting more serious with. But I can see some situations where it could work. For instance, when two people enjoy each other's company and are physically attracted to each other but, due to extraneous factors such as physical distance, know that being in a serious relationship could never work. Or two people who have already been in serious relationships, not interested in going there again and are truly just looking for companionship with no strings. Maybe people in different stages of their lives, ex. older woman and much younger man who have nothing in common aside from a mutual physical attraction could make it work. Or even married couples who have agreed that sexual relations outside of the marriage are allowed. There are exceptions to every rule and I'm sure the FWB actually works in some cases, but for single people like myself who are actually looking for something more, I'd be very surprised if, in the majority of cases, both parties to a FWB situation are truly satisfied. (And I don't mean "sexually" satisfied!)

Anyway, that's my opinion on the subject for what it's worth. But, hey, did you hear about that book Just friends with Benefits by Meredith Schorr? It has nothing to do with the movie, but you should read it. It's good!

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Thank you so much, Meredith, for dropping by my blog with such a great post! I most definitely recommend Meredith's book "Just Friends with Benefits"!

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Review: Just Friends with Benefits by Meredith Schorr

When a friend urges Stephanie Cohen not to put all her eggs in one bastard, the advice falls on deaf ears. Stephanie's college crush on Craig Hille has been awakened 13 years later as if soaked in a can of Red Bull and she is determined not to let the guy who got away once, get away twice. Stephanie, a 32-year-old paralegal from Washington, D.C., is a 70's and 80's television trivia buff who can recite the starting lineup of the New York Yankees and go beer for beer with the guys. And despite her failure to get married and pro-create prior to entering her thirties, she has so far managed to keep her overbearing mother from sticking her head in the oven. Just Friends with Benefits is the humorous story of Stephanie's pursuit of love, her adventures in friendship, and her journey to discover what really matters.

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Friends with Benefits is a hot topic in Hollywood these days, as debut novelist Meredith Schorr will talk about in the guest post that will follow this review. Stephanie Cohen has been carrying a crush since college on Craig Hille and when she finally gets the nerve up to make her move, he promptly puts them in the friends with benefits category. I love the premise of this book and I really liked the majority of the characters. Stephanie is smart, quirky, and bound so deeply to the friends she made in college that a lot of her life revolves around them. I think friendships define us, just as much as our family, so that was one of the most positive things about the book. However, there is one character in this book, Paul, that just grated on my nerves from start to finish. He just came off as rude and annoying, no matter the scene. Paul aside, I really enjoyed the book. Stephanie meeting cute Ryan and having to decide if she wanted to pursue a real relationship or keep on hoping that eventually Craig would move her to girlfriend status was the real story here. I found myself applauding Stephanie and then groaning at her actions in the next moment, pretty much how you would imagine such a scenario would play out in real life.

Meredith Schorr has a great novel in "Just Friends with Benefits". It's about more than recapturing a missed love with someone from your past, it is about the friends that are with you through thick and thin and learning to value yourself and your needs/wants. Thank you to both Meredith and Samantha from Chick Lit Plus for allowing me the chance to read and review this book.

You can find Meredith at the following:

Official Website.
Facebook .
GoodReads

ChickLit Villains: A Guest Post by Britney Bronte

ChickLit Villains

To some extent I’ve touched on this in other blogs. When you talk about Chicklit heroes, you can’t get away from villains, because within this genre the guy who looks like the prince is often the toad. Working out which is which can form a massive part of the story.

The genre is unusual, in so much as you don’t need a villain to create the plot. It helps but it’s not absolutely necessary. Chicklit bad boys seldom tie the heroine to railway tracks or blackmail her or poison her relatives, though sometimes we wish he would. Often, he’s a classic example of the kind of man fallen for and never understood; the man who acts interested but then doesn’t text back, the guy who dumps us without a reason, or the love of our life who tells us he can’t commit, then marries a finalist from America’s Next Top Matchstick.

In general, the key to a chicklit villain is that he doesn’t care, or he cares in a way that makes us unhappy. He is always charming and on some level false. Once we know what he’s like, we ‘re generally shouting at the heroine to stop loving him, only she can’t because he represents something she lacks. And that’s a situation we all understand..

Of course, the enemy is not always the male who doesn’t care. Check out The Devil Wears Prada, where the obvious nasty is our heroine’s boss, Miranda Priestly. From bitches to witches, bad girls are just as much fun as bad boys. Whoever your villain is, don’t let them get too heavy; remember Sex and the City, where Aleksandr hits Carrie and gets his just desserts from Mr Big? That’s the point at which the romcom element is almost over, and something more serious is taking its place. It may be a lot of things, but it’s not funny.

Usually, chicklit life is a comedy of errors. In Do Not Lick The Phones, it’s the funny circumstances and mistakes that make the story. If there’s any real danger at all, it lies in what Britney may become if she lets herself. There is a tiny element of seduction…but I’ll leave that for you to discover.

So when it comes to villains./villainesses of course they should add flavour and plot, Let them be as real and recogniseable as it takes to be ridiculous. If they spark you up, chances are the readers will feel the same. Love them, hate them, laugh at them, but most of all, enjoy them. Treated well, they’ll make your story pop!

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Thank you, Britney, for the delightful post!

For more on Britney Bronte and her debut novel "Do Not Lick The Phones", you can visit the following: her website, Facebook, and Twitter.

Review: Do Not Lick The Phones by Britney Bronte

The True Confessions of a TV Psychic!

A sparkling romcom based on the true life adventures of Britney Bronte, hapless wannabe celebrity psychic.

Meet Britney, a girl with a pack of cards and almost no ambition, who finds herself jetset to stardom on psychic Television. Will she find fame? Inner meaning? True love?

Crazies and conmen, angels and aliens, predictions and porn, they're all to be found in this whistleblowing romp through the New Age. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll howl... but whatever you do, remember please, DO NOT LICK THE PHONES!

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Britney Bronte finally lands a dream job, hosting a psychic bit on television. Unfortunately, the station is owned by Satan, but the cast of characters that she encounters is enough to keep things always hopping. Britney weaves a fascinating tale of her job and the people who surround her. Life at the studio is never dull, that is for sure. From the "babes" that do the adult lines to the varied psychics and mediums working in her studio, the tales are varied and amusing. There is a bit with a sheep and another that involves an exorcism of a plant that had me stuck in a laughing fit. Of course, a man enters the picture. Kumar, the hottest man alive, is his name and Britney is definitely interested. And it is complicated, naturally. I think my biggest issue was the fact the book rarely left the studio. It felt hard to get a grasp on who Britney really was because it was all work related and so much detail into the inner workings of the TV station with too many characters being added on a constant basis. Overall, a good debut novel out of Britney Bronte and hopefully more to come.

All proceeds from “DO NOT LICK THE PHONES” will go to help out communities in London recover from the horrible riots that recently happened. That, folks, deserves a lot of respect given to Ms. Bronte.


You can find Britney at the following: her website, Facebook, and Twitter.

As always, a big thank you to Samantha with Chick Lit Plus Blog Tours for inviting me to review this book.

The Art of Writing - A guest post by author Lennie Ross

People always ask me what it’s like to write. I say it’s like playing with a Rubik’s cube the size of a house with tiny little squares the size of a postage stamp. We move words around until they make some sense, accurately reflect the images in our mind, and hopefully strike a chord of emotion in the reader.

I love to write. I started writing when I was fourteen. I wrote a book of poetry. I have no idea where that book is—probably in a tattered cardboard box in my mother’s attic collecting dust—but I would love to look at it again. The beautiful thing about all forms of writing is that they act like a time and date stamp of our thoughts and feelings at a certain moment in our lives. I guess that’s why so many people keep journals.

Like all artists, I have struggled to get paid for what I do. I have written copy for brochures selling everything from dental equipment to retirement living. I have written about local building projects, water contamination, and community fairs for small local newspapers. I have written TV movie projects inspired by real life stories of dying mothers looking for someone to care for their children and women who survived physical and sexual abuse, which I pitched from one network to the next until there was nowhere left to pitch. I have written erotica scripts where every ten pages there is a simulated sex/love scene. With all of these projects, I managed to get paid to some degree, but I have never made a living as a writer.

I know a few successful writers who make upwards of a million dollars a year doing what they love. I am not one of them, though I do hope that a little of their good fortune might rub off on me. A few years ago I became so disenchanted with writing due to my lack of financial success that I stopped writing for two whole years. It was the most foreign experience for me. I missed it. I craved it. I felt guilty for not writing, but I could not handle the disappointment and pain of not being financially successful at that which I loved.

Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. I thought my mind was going to explode with ideas. Writers write; whether we are compensated financially or not, it is just something we have to do. So, I chose a new medium: the chicklit novel. With a new medium to explore, I was faced with endless new challenges: How long should it be? What voice should I use? Where do I find an editor? How do I find an agent? How do I self-publish? Throughout the process I found myself asking, “what do I do now?” Nobody was answering, so I just figured it out on my own. It was just another piece of the puzzle that is writing.

Two years later, after endless challenges, I have my first published chicklit novel, “Blow Me”. It’s a tale of three women’s struggle with sex and love in the City of Angels and one women’s struggle with being a writer.



Lennie Ross can be found on her website, Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads

Review: Blow Me by Lennie Ross

Blow Me is the story of three single women—each close to forty and living a life they have long outgrown. Aware that the women’s magazines of their youth sold them a false bill of goods about having it all—the amazing career, the baby, the house, the husband—each woman is desperate to achieve some sense of stability. Skylar, a hairdresser/executive assistant who lost her job and burned down her apartment after a fondue party, is living out of her car; Chloe, a struggling actress/real estate agent with a French Canadian accent who has never sold a house and doesn’t have her SAG card, struggles to get a Green Card; and Dawn, an MBA-educated dating matchmaker, is hedging her bets against the ticking clock by freezing embryos. Their lives are in chaos and their only hope is to be rescued through marriage or by a Hairy Godfather. Situated in the shallow world of Los Angeles, this provocative novel in the style of Sex and the City provides a humorous look at aging, dating, and being single in the new millennium.

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Let me just say, Lennie Ross, you wrote one entertaining book!! I was fascinated with the lives of Skylar, Dawn, and Chloe. Set in the glitzy setting of Los Angeles, three very different women have forged a life for themselves and a tight friendship. (At least two of them did anyway.) Skylar's journey to finding herself and her purpose in life was rocky. Losing your job to two Barbie dolls and then burning your apartment down (hey, it was in the proverbial heat of the moment) is definitely rough. Living in her car, she had to work out where she could park for a night, where to find free food, where to grab a quick shower, all the while avoiding letting anyone know that she was, in fact homeless. Enter a man that seemed very unlikely to catch Skylar's eye, but helped her grow and find her dream job. Dawn's path was filled with an overbearing mother that just wants to see her married with children and possessing a hesitance to live her life. Her mother finally takes matters into her own hands and signs up, posing as Dawn, for a dating service and arranges a date for her daughter. Enter Jake. Dawn, as much as she likes Jake, is privately going through the process to freeze her embryos to keep up with the biological clock that is ticking away. And then we have Chloe. Honestly, I didn't find her likable. She felt fake and too materialistic. As she schemed to find herself a husband to stay in the country, I couldn't get behind her character and root for her.

Lennie's debut novel is full of heart and fun characters. The supporting cast is made up of some incredible men, some downright sleazy men, a mother that makes you want to yell at her in Dawn's defense, and a couple of cute kitties. If you've been to LA, you can envision clearly a lot of the places that are described, which helps bring it to life. I have to agree that if you love "Sex and the City", you are going to enjoy "Blow Me", a great debut from Lennie Ross.

If you want to learn more about Lennie, please check out her website, you won't regret it!

Review: Family Pieces by Misa Rush

What do you do when your once charmed life falls to pieces?

Karsen Woods’ life seems charmed from her hunkalicious boyfriend to her picture-perfect midwestern roots. Away at college, even the necklace she wears serves as a constant connection home – a family tradition created when her grandfather handmade each immediate relative an interlinking charm. Each piece crafted in the shape of a puzzle piece, each one interlinking perfectly together. But when the unexpected death of her mother turns her world upside down, she discovers there is a missing piece of her treasured family tradition and her life as she once knew it may never be the same.

Addison Reynolds resides in her posh Manhattan condominium and wraps her personal identity around running Urbane, the magazine empire built by her father. In a moment of haste, Addison divulges her deepest secret to her closest friend Emily – a secret she never intended to disclose.

Could one choice, one secret, bond two unlikely women forever?

Misa Rush's debut novel was an emotional journey through the life of two women that are so different, but tied together with an unknown bond. Dealing with love, both loss and discovery of, the characters in this book tugged at my heart as they tried to piece the past together. The determination of Karsen to discover the truth and the equal determination of Addison to not acknowledge the truth was gripping. The story of emotionally distant Addison was the more fascinating of the two women. She seems to have the personal life, but the past has her hiding and willing to sacrifice love to keep from letting herself be hurt again. A couple of instances felt rushed to get to the point, but overall the book flowed smoothly and I couldn't believe how quick time flew before I was turning the last page. A big bonus to me was the fact Karsen's college life took place in Arizona. As a Phoenix girl, there were mentions of familiar places to me and that brought the book to life for me. I could easily imagine these characters at the Improv, at ASU, around town. Ms. Rush is a talented author and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

Please join Misa and hostess Samantha from Chick Lit Plus for a Twitter party on Thursday, June 23rd, at 6PM CST. Use hashtag #CLPMisa and join in the fun!

You can find out more about Misa at the following:

Misa Rush's official website
Family Pieces on Facebook
Misa on Twitter