Thursday Mashup

Mashup, Mashup, Mashup!

1. Leah’s Thoughts is giving away a copy of The Outcast by Jolina Petersheim. Jolina is adorable on Twitter- she’s so excited about her novel!

2. Amy Sue Nathan is featuring Mia March today on her website (wonder what those 2 smart and wonderful women are talking about?!) Come find out and read Mia’s post: Author Mia March Edits As She Writes, Loves Women’s Fiction, And Celebrates Her Kinship With Authors

3. Book-Alicious Mama is still in Week 1 of discussing The Painted Girls! Come, join my adorable Book Lovers Unite co-host, and let’s chat about The Painted Girls!

4. Deep South Magazine is chatting with Susan Rebecca White, author of A PLACE AT THE TABLE, Fri, July 19th 2-3pm EST. Use #southernlit to join in! Can’t wait? Here is my interview with Susan Rebecca White!

5. For more #giveaway information- check out my Wednesday Mashup!

Monday Mashup

It’s been a lovely few days off due to the 4th of July (although my blog was still having things posted!) I read, ate homemade ice-cream, and visited with family. And thought of how, next 4th of July, I’ll be an aunt- and have a baby niece or nephew to take patriotic pictures of!

Giveaways:

1. The Life List by Lori Nelson Spielman- still plenty of time to enter my #giveaway– but Goodreads is also hosting a #giveaway!

2. Final Sentence by Daryl Wood Gerber (you might know her as Avery Aames)- well I’m hosting a #giveaway of that as well!

3. Recipe for a Happy Life– interview and #giveaway with Brenda Janowitz! Plus Brenda was featured at Amy Sue Nathan’s Women’s Fiction Writers website- read all about why Brenda Janowitz’s third novel was worth the wait for her (and the readers!)

Book Lovers Unite Online Book Club

4. It’s July- so the adorable Jen S of Book-alicious Mama got to choose the book- She picked The Painted Girls! Join in the chat all month long!

Happy News!

Love at First Book celebrates 1 year as blog! Join me in congratulating, R, for this achievement- and here’s to many more!

Tuesday Mashup

LOTS to announce!

Rebecca @ Love at First Book is featured in Bloggers who WIN, a feature created by BookStore-BookBlogger Connection. She talks all about the magic of a book store in this feature!

Want to get to chat with Beatriz Williams- author of A HUNDRED SUMMERS? Yes, yes, you do! So join in Thursday night with Literary New England from 8-9pmEST and chat! You might even get lucky and win a book 🙂 Use #LNEchat to join in!

She Reads revealed their The Books of Summer list last week. 6 books that you need to read this summer! As part of their The Books of Summer, they will also be having author interviews and others fun news- here is a catch-up of what has been posted:

Grab It While You Can (Marybeth Whalen’s new book, The Wishing Tree, $3.99 in e-book!)

The Wishing Tree Soundtrack

Tell Me Something True: A Visit with Beatriz Williams

Tell Me Something True: A Visit with Amy Sue Nathan

Today I interviewed Erika Marks, author of The Guest House, on my blog. Here’s the interview- and Thursday- check back to see Erika’s #literaryconfessions and #literarycrush (PLUS a GIVEAWAY!)

ICYMI: My review of A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams!

Deep South Mag has posted their Twitter Chat Schedule, Summer Reading List 2013, and Summer Book Signing Calendar 2013 ( when you look at the summer book signing- you *may* see a familiar face 😉

Happy Reading 🙂

Literary Friday ya’ll…

It’s the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. And I don’t know what your plans are- but mine is this: Sun, cool drinks, grilling out (corn on the grill = AMAZING), and other fun things (plus some reading!)

1. Deep South Mag and their #literaryfriday: A sneak peek at some of the Summer Reading List, news of Zelda Fitzgerald, David Sedaris, Erika Robuck, and Mary Kay Andrews events, and more!

2. Enter to win THE GLASS WIVES by Amy Sue Nathan at Great New Books!

3. My #fridayreads THE GUEST HOUSE by Erika Marks & NEVER TELL by Alafair Burke. What is your #fridayreads?

4. Book Lovers Unite Online Book Club hosted by me, Traveling With T, begins it’s inaugural month on May 31. Join me and Book-Alicious Mama as we read this book, RECONSTRUCTING AMELIA. Look for the hashtag #bookloversunite on Twitter for when questions are posted, pictures of us reading the book, and other fun things!

5. Be sure and check out Traveling With T on JUNE 3rd. There will be a Kate Carlisle #giveaway that you do not want to miss!

6. If you will be in the Georgia area on Tuesday, May 28th, go see Erika Robuck at Fox Tale Book Shoppe. Sadly, it did not work out that I would be able to be in town- but Book-Alicious Mama is snagging me a signed copy so at least I’ll have that!

7. Christina Baker Kline’s Orphan Train will be discussed at She Reads all next week. Come and discuss! May 27-June 3rd!

Have a Happy Memorial Day and Happy Reading! xoxo

The Glass Wives by Amy Sue Nathan

Evie Glass and Nicole Glass- two women of different backgrounds who have few things in common- except the fact that they have both been married to Richard Glass. That’s not all they share, though. They both share the grief of Richard dying and his children with the respective wives growing up without a father.

After Richard’s death- Evie is almost looking forward to not having Nicole in her life anymore. With Richard not being around, Evie thinks that she and Nicole will have few reasons to interact- no more Nicole being a stepmother to the twins of Evie’s. Nicole has other ideas, though. She wants the twins to still be a part of her life for the relationship that she hopes the half-siblings will have- even with their father passing away.

Evie’s nervous, she’s not sure if she should trust Nicole. Then with financial reality weighing on Evie and with the twins still wanting to have interaction with Nicole and their baby brother- Evie and Nicole come to a tentative agreement about living together. Life is ok, not perfect; but not terrible- till a secret comes to light.

With that information, Evie has to decide a few things- can she ever trust Nicole? Could Evie be strong enough to have a life with just her and the twins? And family- what makes a family? Is family just the people you were born with or can you choose people to be part of your family?

The Glass Wives takes several topics: divorce, affairs, death, trusting people, and finding yourself- and interweaves the topics into a tale that is honest, understandable, and enjoyable. Book clubs will rejoice over the level of discussion that this book has potential to provoke amongst members.

* This book was requested through Netgalley. Thoughts and opinions expressed are mine alone.

Literary Friday ya’ll……

Today, The Great Gatsby releases. And the people have been excited, the tv has shown the trailer multiple times, and everything’s a-buzz foe The Great Gatsby! In related news, Erika Robuck’s latest, Call Me Zelda, was released earlier this week (I’d like to know who the marketing genius was who saw a prime opportunity to release CMZ the same week as TGG came out in theaters- because that person- that person has their game face on!)

1. Deep South Mag has been counting down to Gatsby all week long! Their #literaryfriday is basically filled with Gatsby! So sit back and read and enjoy!

Not enough Gatsby for you? Well Deep South Mag has more: Gatsby Companion Reading List!

Is Zelda more your thing? Deep South Mag has the answer to that as well: Zelda Gets Her Day

2. Amy Sue Nathan and her debut novel- The Glass Wives, has been twirling around the book world for a bit- early readers of The Glass Wives have been tweeting and blogging very positive things about Amy’s debut. When she’s not writing or getting ready for a book launch- Amy Sue Nathan has a website called Women’s Fiction Writers. It’s smart, funny interviews and talks with interesting women (this week alone- she had Wendy Francis, Three Good Things author and Erika Robuck, Call Me Zelda author.

Here are the 3 posts I read this week that I really felt needed to be shared: Three Good Things (ok Many More) from Wendy Francis, Author Natalia Sylvester Says the way to Support Women’s Fiction Is to Keep Writing It, Writing Words and Book Banter with Erika Robuck.

Specifically, pay attention to Natalia Sylvester’s article- women’s fiction is much harder to define than I’ve ever thought- but it needs to be supported. Needs to be bought, read, enjoyed. Natalia has some insightful thoughts.

3. She Reads announced this week that Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline would be the May Book Club Selection. It’s a fascinating book- fast read, interesting characters, and has a historical aspect to it. Join me and others at end of the month as we discuss Orphan Train at She Reads!

Orphan Train: Featured Recipe

May Book Club Selection: Orphan Train

Bookmagnet’s review of Orphan Train

Love At First Book’s review of Orphan Train

The Book Wheel’s review of Orphan Train

Traveling With T’s review of Orphan Train

Want to read more reviews of Orphan Train? Use #srblog on Twitter- and you’ll see tons of reviews!

4. Looking for a non-fiction book to read with a great online book club? Join Rebecca (Love at First Book) and Allison (The Book Wheel) as they read A Train in Winter. Details, sign-up and more are posted already.

5. My #fridayreads is Looking for Me by Beth Hoffman and Oscar Wilde and the Murders at Reading Gaol by Gyles Brandreth. What is your #fridayreads?

6. Looking for books? Like Pinterest? I have 2 Pinterest boards that might interest you! Beach Bag Reads 2013 and The TBR List that Ate an Entire Town

7. ICYMI: 3 reviews I posted this week- Big Daddy’s Rules: Raising Daughters is Tougher Than I Look, Deadly Harvest, and Game Drive

8. And look today for more info about Traveling With T’s online book club- beginning in June!

Happy Reading!

Literary Friday ya’ll….

Friday. The week has flown by. Supposed to go to Double Decker Art Festival tomorrow with my cousin- but appears to be rain in the forecast. So we’ll see!

1. Deep South Mag– the #literaryfriday edition celebrates Harper Lee’s birthday, Reese Witherspoon, and several festivals and writing events. Plus there’s a mention or 2 about The Great Gatsby!

2. Today, on my blog, I reviewed Mitiz Kelly’s Deadly Policy. Perfect for fans of #cozy books, or for readers looking to read about characters over the age of 40- it’s a quick read. Interesting. Nice plot. Mitiz Kelly is also being generous- and is giving away the 2 books in the Silver Sleuths series to each blog in the Cozy Mystery Reviews DEADLY POLICY blog tour. Go to my review of Deadly Policy, follow the directions (super-easy!) and you’ll be entered to win! Contest ends April 30th! Winner announced May 1st.

3. Monday, April 29th, Patti Callhan Henry will be Twitter chatting about her latest book, AND THEN I FOUND YOU. The Twitter chat will be hosted by yours truly- so def stop by! Did I mention there will be a #giveaway? We’ll chat from 2-3pmEST. Use #srchat to join in!

4. Can’t make it to Twitter chat? 😦 😦 Don’t worry! The AND THEN I FOUND YOU discussion will begin on April 29th and go through May 6th at She Reads. Again- yours truly will be hosting that as well!

5. What is your #fridayreads? Mine is The Glass Wives by Amy Sue Nathan!

6. With all this talk of AND THEN I FOUND YOU- have you gotten a thought of “this would be perfect for my book club?” Or maybe “I want to make something for my book club that goes with this book?” “Or I need music for my book club while we’re drinking a glass of wine- but what music?” She Reads has all these answers. Read the next articles for more info.

1. Books and music: The Playlist for AND THEN I FOUND YOU

2. Featured Recipe for AND THEN I FOUND YOU

7. Yesterday I packed my fictional beach bag with the books I plan to read over the summer- tell me what you want to put in your beach bag! Here’s my Beach Bag Reads list!

8. She Reads recommended books this week as well: A Tisket A Tasket A Book-Laden Basket

9. Remember my book-ish bucket list? Beginning in June, I can cross 1 thing off the list! Intrigued? Traveling With T will be having an ONLINE BOOK CLUB! The book is RECONSTRUCTING AMELIA by Kimberly McCreight. It’s been getting some great reviews- and it looks like it’s going to be a fun book to read. More details to come as it gets closer to time- but if you’ve been wanting the book and needing people to discuss the book with- this is a chance!

10. ICYMI:

Meeting Rita Leganski: The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow

Interview with Kimberly Freeman author of Lighthouse Bay

Meeting Jill McCorkle- author of Life After Life

Happy Reading!