Fabulous Spring Reads!

Ahhhh, now it feels like spring!! It's mid-May, with temps in the 70s & 80s, and I see flowers blooming outside (along with, perhaps, a few too many dandelions in our yard...), but I love that burst of color.

 

Another great thing about May is that it's the release month for novels by two of my good friends! Just out this week is Robin Bielman's Kissing the Maid of Honor (contemporary romance)! Check out this awesome premise:

 

Kissing her best friend’s brother never felt so right…

Sela Sullivan is resolved to be the best maid of honor ever, even if it means tolerating the best man. Insufferable, too-handsome Luke Watters is not only the guy who humiliated her at a kissing booth in high school, but he also happens to be her best friend’s older brother. Positive he’s the same arrogant jock, Sela vows to focus on her duties and steer clear of the frustrating—and frustratingly tempting—Luke.

As a world-renowned extreme-sports photographer, Luke is used to undertaking life-risking adventures. But risking his heart for the beautiful Sela Sullivan, who clearly still hates him for his rejection all those years ago? He didn’t see that coming. Sela inspires a passion he’s never known, and the more time they spend together, the more he craves her. But can he prove to the maid of honor he’s become a man of honor?

 

And, coming out on the 27th is the newest novel by Lexi Ryan, Unbreak Me (contemporary new adult)! Read about this wonderful story below:

 

“If you’re broken, I’ll fix you…”

I’m only twenty-one and already damaged goods. A slut. A failure. A disappointment to my picture-perfect family as long as I can remember. I called off my wedding to William Bailey, the only man who thought I was worth fixing. A year later, he’s marrying my sister. Unless I ask him not to…

“If you shatter, I’ll find you…”

But now there’s Asher Logan, a broken man who sees the fractures in my façade and doesn’t want to fix me at all. Asher wants me to stop hiding, to stop pretending. Asher wants to break down my walls. But that means letting him see my ugly secrets and forgiving him for his.

With my past weighing down on me, do I want the man who holds me together or the man who gives me permission to break?

 

Robin and Lexi, HUGE congrats!! You know how excited I am for you two, and I can't wait to read both of these!!!

A Q&A with Author Leslie Lehr

Today, it's my pleasure to have as my guest one of my fellow Girlfriends from the GBC, Leslie Lehr, author of What A Mother Knows (Sourcebooks Landmark, May 2013). It was just released yesterday -- yay! congrats!! -- and I think it's a perfect novel for Mother's Day.

Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times bestselling author of The Weight of Silence and One Breath Away, called it: "A fast-paced and gripping exploration of a mother's love. A powerful affecting novel."

And Long and Short Reviews wrote: "Almost impossible to put down. ... What a Mother Knows is an intense and emotional rollercoaster ride."

Welcome, Leslie!!

Can you tell us the basic premise of your new book?

A woman who recovers from a fatal car accident and is accused of murder risks everything to find her missing daughter, the only one who might know the truth of what happened that day.  People are calling it contemporary drama or literary suspense, but for me it’s a love story.

What's one scene from this story you loved writing and why did it excite you? I loved writing the scene in Key West because it’s such a vivid place. My aunt has a bed and breakfast there called the Curry Mansion, and if it didn’t exist, I would have to make it up. There’s a picture of it on the map on my website. It’s a historic landmark full of antiques and there’s a piano player on the veranda at cocktail hour every afternoon. The sights and sounds of the main tourist drag and the excitement on the boardwalk at sunset are so colorful. The setting really adds flavor to the twists and turns in this chapter when Michelle, the main character, searches for her daughter. And it has a big ending. Bam!

Did you use any musical references in your novel? If so, do they play a significant role? If you check out the playlist on my website, you’ll se that most of the songs are from the Doors, who are considered the quintessential LA band. Jim Morrison, the singer/songwriter was this gorgeous poet who epitomized the sex, drugs, rock ‘n roll attitude of the sixties. He died before I’d ever heard of him, but you’d recognize the haunting music – it’s on every ‘best of ‘ list. I don’t want to ruin the story, but there is a young musician in it. So the music adds another dimension to the drama, one that embodies the worst fears of any mother.

Who was the first person you told when you got The Call announcing big news about your first novel? My mother. While visiting, I was roller blading with my daughters in the park across from her condo. My mom called me in to get the phone and came out to watch the girls. She had a funny expression on her face as I clomped past her and didn’t even tell me to take off the rollerblades. Joe deSalvo, from the Pirates Alley Faulkner Society, said that my novel won a prize and he invited me to New Orleans, all expenses paid, to get it.  At first I thought it was a friend playing a practical joke, but they flew me in and put me up in a Penthouse with a fruit basket and everything. Then there was a hurricane, so everyone fled the city and I didn’t get my award. But they sent the manuscript to an agent, and by the time I came back the next year, she was there along with my new editor from Random House. It still seems like a dream - makes me smile just thinking about it.

What's your Writer Fantasy--i.e., to see your book make into a feature film, to be on the New York Times bestseller list for 40 consecutive weeks, etc.? All of the above! Isn’t fantasy what writers are all about?

What's one piece of writing advice you've found valuable on your journey to publication? I didn’t know any writers, but I used to play a tape of this old reggae soundtrack called The Harder They Come just hear the Jimmy Cliff sing, You Can Get It If You Really Want. Just imagine “If at first you don’t succeed, you gotta try try try again” with a reggae beat. It helped me stay motivated when I was broke and splurging on stamps to mail query letters. My dad always told me. “You can’t fail until you quit.” I couldn’t quit.

What's a personality trait you love about one of the characters in your novel and why? Michelle, the main character, becomes a kickass mom. She won’t let anything get in her way. She’s like Sally Field in that old movie, Not Without My Daughter, but even better. All the moms in this story are like that, but they all go about it indifferent ways….

Did you go on any special trips to research the setting? I used places that I’d already been. I did go back to Hawaii and Key West on vacations, and New York for business, so I kept my eyes open. Then I followed up with research online to keep things current.

What do you think readers might be surprised to know about you? I'm a terrible typist.

Any favorite movies you've seen? Ones you've watched over and over again? I’m a sucker for romantic comedies. While You Were Sleeping is my comfort food. My daughter and I love Romy & Michelle. We can also quote every line from Legally Blonde – it’s fun to watch it together.

Thank you so much, Leslie! (And you know I share your love of "While You Were Sleeping" -- one of my all-time faves! ;-)  

For readers who'd like to connect with Leslie, please visit her website http://www.leslielehr.com , check her out on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/authorleslielehr  and Twitter @leslielehr1

Also, if you are part of a book club and would like to have her visit via Skype, email her at leslieswork@aol.com (and there are fun features plus book club ideas on her website, too). 

Finally, for all moms who are reading this, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!! Are you doing anything special to celebrate this weekend?!

Release Day for MO'S HEART by Edie Ramer

It's always exciting when a friend has a new release, especially when it's a much-anticipated book in a wonderful series!! Just has to say CONGRATS to Edie Ramer on her latest Miracle Interrupted novel: Mo's Heart!!!! Check out the details below:

The Mafia comes to Miracle, Wisconsin...

Mo Vincent, the owner of Mo’s Place, is in agony because his soon-to-be divorced sous-chef is dating – but not him. He has his reasons for not asking her out. He did the right thing back in New Jersey, and it cost him his son, his wife, his restaurant. Now he’s found a home in Miracle. The village has accepted him, and his new restaurant is doing well. He should be content with what he has…but his heart wants more.
 
Chef Rosa Fabrini’s divorce is one signature away when her cheating husband returns home and expects her to forgive him. Her lawyer is AWOL, and her youngest son is demanding she take his father back. Desperate to escape the turmoil, she asks Mo to let her move into the empty apartment above the restaurant…right next to his place.
 
Mo can’t say no. His mind knows she’s forbidden fruit, but his heart dares to hope. Until his past shows up, and he finds out sometimes it takes a village…

**Right now, Edie has a special $0.99 sale going on (but only until April 26th), so be sure to grab a copy soon!**

Buy MO’S HEART for only 99¢ at Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, All Romance eBooks, and Smashwords. Read an excerpt here.

Me? I'm sold just by the mention of "Karaoke" and "Love Songs" on the cover!! Can't wait to get to read it ;).

Hope you're all having a wonderful week. I have been blogging in other places recently, including Austen Authors, where I wrote about my "Bingley Hunt." If you have any good suggestions for actors who might fit the role that I'm seeking for my next hero, please stop by here and add in your favorite! There have been some real hotties recommended already!!

A Visit with Samantha Wilde

Today, as we kick off the whimsical month of April, I have the pleasure of welcoming the very talented (true) and incredibly serious (not exactly ;) Samantha Wilde to Brant Flakes! Her new novel, I'll Take What She Has, has garnered tons of raves, including one from Claire Cook, bestselling author of Must Love Dogs: "Samantha Wilde has a dry wit, a big heart, and a sharp eye that doesn’t miss a trick. I’ll Take What She Has is a smart and funny behind-the-scenes look at private school life and the grass-is-always-greener friendships of three women who, like most of us, would have fabulous lives if only they could get out of their own way."

And Publishers Weekly wrote: "With wit, compassion, and a keen ear for dialogue Wilde explores issues of insecurity, envy, young motherhood, and friendship in this fast-paced work."
She recently did a wonderful interview (3/23/13) on Word Cafe, too, so please check it out... Welcome, Sam!! So glad to have you here!

 

I’m So Famous I Can Hardly Stand In The Same Room As Myself
by Samantha Wilde

Words can’t describe the joy I felt when the New York Cat Times published this glowing review of my new novel, I’ll Take What She Has: "Wilde possesses an unrivaled comic genius. I'll Take What She Has purrfectly captures the truths of women's lives with such cat-astrophic wit and poignancy that I would give one of my nine lives to have the chance to read it again for the first time. A novel more addictive than catnip--and better."

As you can imagine, having the entire feline population of the United States run out to grab a copy of the novel put me on the best seller list of every pet newspaper. (And in case you’re wondering, I did donate a few copies to the local animal shelters for the cats who can’t afford to buy their own.) I would have been happy with that kind of success, after all, I’m really just a stay-at-home mother, using nap-times and evenings to write the kind of novel I love to read. I neither look nor dress like a celebrity.

But then an incredible thing happened. The Nobel Mommy Prize committee got a hold of I’ll Take What She Has, which, ostensibly about envy and friendship, is actually quite a lot about mothering in the modern world. Within weeks I had a nomination in hand. “What we love about this book comes out in its accomplished use of mom-speak that has the veritable ability to conquer global world problems through the sheer force of comic domestic humor unparalleled in the world of fiction from which it comes with life and liberty for all.”

Wow! I don’t even know what that means, that’s how important it is. By now, predictably, my sales have gone through the roof which gave us enough money to repair the roof the books broke and to reseed our lawn so we can finally be the people with the greenest grass on our block.

You know, I wrote a book about envy among women friends; now everyone envies me. They say, “Sam, you have, like, three hundred likes on Facebook! How did you do it?” Or they say, “Your book was so amazing I reached Nirvana while I read it.” Some of them say, “My cat cried when she read the part about the dog in I’ll Take What She Has.” One stranger even told me that the book made him reconcile with his parents after a thirty year estrangement because he finally could understand why his mother acted the way she did.

You know what I say? I say, thank you for making me so rich and famous. When the Zoo-Keepers Production Studio bought the rights to the book and told me they plan to make it into a movie with an all endangered species cast, I thought, you and me Mother Theresa, changing the world, one creature at a time. When Oprah called and asked to borrow my wardrobe for her next photo shoot (for the cover of her magazine, of course), I said: “I’ll let you borrow my shoes, too!” When the President called to congratulate me, I said, “Did you even read the book, dude? Because it sounds like someone else wrote this conversation for you, like a speech writer or something? How about a quick quiz, who did Nora envy?”

A writer’s life can be a lonely and anti-climactic place. You spend years working on a novel and it comes out and no one sets off fireworks. People just keep going to work like nothing has changed! I’m so glad I have lived through this incredible moment in time and seen the cataclysmic effects of my novel. NASA called and let me know that the sales figures rocketed so high they hit Pluto and turned it back into a planet.

Please don’t think I’ve let any of this go to my head. I’m still an ordinary mother or at least that’s what my five new nannies tell me when I ask them “How do I look?” You’re welcome to buy my new novel, but keep in mind it could set off a meteor shower or bring about permanent world peace. If you do, know how much I love you, that I am always thinking of you, and that when I win my next prize (because I’m up for the Mama Pulitzer), I will give you all the credit that I don’t give myself.

Samantha Wilde hopes you have a very playful April Fool’s Day! She is the author of I’ll Take What She Has and This Little Mommy Stayed Home. See the new novel’s book trailer here. The at-home mother of three small children, she is a yoga teacher, an ordained minister, and the daughter of the really bestselling novelist, Nancy Thayer. Please like her on Facebook, visit her mothering blog, check out her website, or join her on twitter @whatshehas.

Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Match -- Now in Paperback!

They're here! They're here!

Finally -- and with a HUGE thank you to all of the readers who enthusiastically supported this book and who emailed me to ask if a paperback copy would be available -- I can now say YES!!

Here's the direct link on Amazon to the print edition of Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Match. It should be for sale on Barnes & Noble and at a number of other retailers soon, too. Thanks for letting me share this exciting news with you all now!

Wishing everyone a fabulous week. And may "spring" actually get here in the near future!!

Happy "Pi" Day!

First and foremost, let me say thank you.

To every single person who picked up a copy of On Any Given Sundae at Barnes & Noble or Amazon this month, or who helped me spread the word about the book, it's because of YOU that I officially get to call it a "National Bestseller," and I couldn't be more appreciative!!

Last week, my first self-published romantic comedy got up to #17 on the B&N Top 100 Bestseller List and was hanging out on the Nook Romance page with some really cool friends ;). On Amazon's Top 100, it reached #60 overall, and it's still on the more specific Humor and Love, Sex & Marriage lists. Very excited about that and incredibly grateful to you all for helping to make it happen!!

And, so, in appreciation and celebration...let there be Pi...I mean, Pie!!

Since Lemon Meringue Pie is one of my favorites -- plus, doesn't it just taste like spring?! (she said hopefully) -- here is a recipe for an easy version. It's one that even I, who couldn't be less skilled as a baker, can make, and I've got my fingers crossed that if we all make spring-like foods, the warm weather and sunshine will follow... Well, it's a theory anyway, LOL.

 

Have a wonderful 3.14, friends, and a relaxing rest of the week! And again, thank you.

ON ANY GIVEN SUNDAE is $0.99 This Week!

Extra! Extra! Announcing a limited time sale for On Any Given Sundae!! It's just $0.99 for both Amazon Kindle and B&N Nook this week -- guaranteed through Saturday, March 9th, but I don't know if it'll last beyond that. (This is a special 75% off promotion!)

For anyone who may not be familiar with the premise, here's the story:

Nothing tops the sweetness of an unexpected love...
When Elizabeth's uncle Siegfried and Rob's uncle Pauly rush off to Europe for a month, they temporarily relinquish the reins of their ice cream shop to their respective niece and nephew -- two people who may have grown up practically next door to each other but who have next to nothing in common.

Elizabeth "Please Don't Call Me Lizzy" Daniels is a small-town Wisconsin girl at heart. Shy and inexperienced at love, the frizzy-haired dessert cookbook writer still resides in her quaint hometown of Wilmington Bay, stutters painfully when nervous and is only comfortable with her laptop and her tiny circle of cooking pals. She must come out of hiding over the summer to help her uncle, but she's convinced her childhood crush, Rob, barely knows she exists.

Roberto "You'd Better Call Me Rob, or Else" Gabinarri is the town's golden boy and former football star who left home after high school, made a splash in the big city and never looked back. He has to return to Wilmington Bay to uphold a promise to his uncle, but he's counting the minutes until he can escape to the relative anonymity of his fast-paced, commitment-free city life and the sports-themed restaurant he owns in Chicago. Despite his chattiness and charm, Rob was always intimidated by quiet, brainy girls like "Frizzy Lizzy," and he isn't pleased to be back in the place where people like her still see him as that popular but dumb jock -- an image he worked for almost a decade to shed.

The unlikely pair tries to make the best of being stuck together, but Elizabeth has a pressing publication deadline, and Rob has an Italian mother bent on lining up potential hometown brides for him. Rob comes up with an idea -- something that might help them both -- but it involves just a bit of family deception. With time running out to finish her cookbook and her friends already stretched to the max trying to assist them, Elizabeth reluctantly agrees.

Neither Rob nor Elizabeth are used to playing games of pretense, but can love, hot summer nights and, maybe, some chocolate sauce, caramel and whipped cream...turn their farce into reality?

"This is a charming tale of the popular jock and the shy bookworm, both trying to outlive their high school personas and prove to each other there is more to them than meets the eye. This is truly a root-for-the-underdog, feel-good story and a joy to read." (LEK) ~ Chicklit Club's Digital Domain, June 2011

"You'll want to read it for the humor and great characters and a plot that's sure to leave you smiling." ~ Romantic Times Book Reviews, Hot Pick for October 2011

And, if you're interested, you can check out the Eye on Romance "Coffee Break" Chapter for the novel HERE!!

Thanks for letting me share the fun news!! Wishing you all a fabulous week! :)