What’s on my iPod: Dead End by the Format
What I’m reading: Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The last person I followed on Twitter: @timmcguire
1. Contest Winner!
Congratulations to Molly Culley for winning our Girl Unmoored Contest! She will soon be reading her favorite novels on a brand new Kindle Fire!
2. J Gooch Hummer’s review on WriteMeg
Jennifer Gooch Hummer’s new novel “Girl Unmoored” was featured by WriteMeg. “Sometimes a novel hops into your lap, looks into your weary eyes and wraps its little paper arms around you. The hug from this book feels so real, so good that you never want to part with it — and that’s exactly how I feel about Girl Unmoored.”
MORE ABOUT GIRL UNMOORED
Apron Bramhall has come unmoored. It’s 1985 and her mom has passed away, her evil stepmother is pregnant, and her best friend has traded her in for a newer model. Fortunately, she’s about to be saved by Jesus. Not that Jesus—the actor who plays him in Jesus Christ, Superstar. Apron is desperate to avoid the look-alike Mike (no one should look that much like Jesus unless they can perform a miracle or two), but suddenly he’s everywhere. Until one day, she’s stuck in church with him—of all places. And then something happens; Apron’s broken teenage heart blinks on for the first time since she’s been adrift.
Mike and his grumpy boyfriend, Chad, offer her a summer job in their flower store, Apron’s world seems to calm. But when she uncovers Chad’s secret, coming of age becomes almost too much bear. She’s forced to see things the adults around her fail to—like what love really means and who is paying too much for it.
Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You, comments, “Love, loss, and the coming of age of one remarkable girl blaze through this haunting debut like a shooting star you’d wish upon. It’s tough and tender, funny and smart, and it frankly took my breath away. I loved it.”
Interested? Look at her website!
3. Allison Winn Scotch featured on She Treads Softly
Allison Winn Scotch’s novel “The Song Remains the Same” was reviewed by She Treads Softly this week.
“..it is a character study as the character tries to pry loose the clues about her past…Winn-Scotch did a nice job pulling it all together in the end. ”
From the New York Times-bestselling author comes a novel that asks the question, who are we without our memories? And how much of our future is defined by our past?
One of only two survivors of a plane crash, Nell Slattery wakes in the hospital with no memory of the crash – or who she is, or was. Now she must piece together both body and mind — with the help of family and friends who have their own agendas. She filters through photos, art, music and stories, hoping something will jog her memory, and soon – in tiny bits and pieces –Nell starts remembering…It isn’t long before she learns to question the stories presented by her mother, her sister and business partner, and her husband. In the end she will learn that forgiving betrayals small and large will be the only true path to healing herself — and to finding happiness.
All this and more on her website!
4.Sarah Pekkanen’s book gets a peek inside by Manic Mommy
Sarah Pekkanen’s book, “These Girls,” was reviewed by Manic Mommy.
” I zipped through it with a frenzy and fell in love with these girls like you wouldn’t believe.
There are three main characters in These Girls and it’s such a great book because they’re all equals”
“ALSO–If you’ve never checked out Sarah’s SHORT STORIES, if you have a spare hour during the day, check out ALL IS BRIGHT and LOVE, ACCIDENTALLY — you will absolutely LOVE them — they are just 99 cents each and they are so very sweet! Don’t miss out on these two awesome stories! ”
MORE ABOUT THESE GIRLS
“Sarah Pekkanen’s latest celebrates the healing power of female friendship for three very different young women sharing a New York City apartment. By turns bittersweet, laugh-out-loud funny, and painfully real, you’ll want to move in with these girls” ~ NYT bestseller Jodi Picoult.
Here’s her website as well!
5. Joy Castro Get s Shout Out by Booklist
Joy Castro’s suspense novel “Hell or High Water” is like, “being handed a plate of appetizers and realizing you like them all, and that every single taste, even the bitter and hot ones, enhances the others.”
MORE ABOUT HELL OR HIGH WATER
Nola Céspedes, an ambitious young reporter at the Times-Picayune, catches a break: an assignment to write her first full-length crime feature. While researching her story, she becomes fixated on the search for a missing tourist in New Orleans. As Nola’s work leads her back into dangerous corners of the city, she finds herself faced with an even more compelling question: Who is Nola Céspedes? Vividly rendered in razor-sharp prose, this psychological thriller is a riveting journey of trust betrayed—and the courageous struggle toward recovery.
“Hell or High Water is more than just a mystery; it’s a heartfelt examination of a second America—poor but undaunted—that was swept under the rug but refuses to stay there.” –Dennis Lehane, New York Times bestselling author of Mystic River
“In the tradition of P.D. James, Ruth Rendell, and Lucha Corpi, Joy Castro shows how mystery can be much more than the unraveling of crimes concealed. An irresistible and compelling novel.” –Lorraine M. López, author of Homicide Survivors Picnic and Other Stories
Author’s website here
FOLLOW HER ON TWITTER! @_joycastro
OH my gosh, I’m so excited! Thanks so much for a wonderful contest! 🙂