Waiting On Wednesday #28 - Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

 Expected publication: April 23, 2013  

 Publisher: Bantam Press

Lottie is tired of long-term boyfriends who don’t want to commit to marriage. When her old boyfriend Ben reappears and reminds her of their pact to get married if they were both still single at thirty, she jumps at the chance. There will be no dates and no engagement—just a straight wedding march to the altar! Next comes the honeymoon on the Greek island where they first met. But not everyone is thrilled with Lottie and Ben’s rushed marriage, and family and friends are determined to intervene. Will Lottie and Ben have a wedding night to remember or one to forget?

   

It's Sophie Kinsella. There is nothing more for me to say. I'll read anything she puts out. I love her books. 


  What's your Waiting on Wednesday book this week?  

Author Interview with Patti Callahan Henry Author of And Then I Found You, with Giveaway

Tour Schedule

I'm excited to have an interview with Patti Callahan Henry, the author of And Then I Found You, to share with you today. I hope you enjoy and check out And Then I Found You book details further down the post. There is also a giveaway to win a copy of the book (US Only). 

Tell us your most rewarding experience since being published.

My most rewarding experience is the cumulative enriching experience of meeting those who love books, reading, story and writing as deeply as I do. In publication, I’ve been allowed to enter this world in ways I never could before. It is rewarding beyond compare for the book worm young girl I once was.

If you could jump in to a book, and live in that world.. which would it be?

Narnia. No doubt. All day.

Any other books in the works? Goals for future projects? 

There is always another book in the works, and yet it might change ten times before it becomes what it will be. Right now I am working on an untitled novel about a woman who must choose which story to believe…

What's the best advice anyone has ever given you?

I have no idea what the best advice is. With every season of life, this answer changes. But right now, I think it is more of a reminder than advice and it is this by Pablo Picasso “Art is the lie that tells the truth.”

What is your favorite way to spend a rainy day?

Reading….mixed with a little writing.

What is something people would be surprised to know about you?

People are usually surprised that the first thing I published was not my first novel, Losing the Moon, or even the first short story in Sweet Tea, but my thesis titled Factors Associated with Closed Head Injury in the magazine Neuroscience Nursing in 1991.

Favorite music?

My music taste scatters all over the place, but I lean toward singer-songwriters with a lovely pining melancholy from jazz to bluegrass to country.

Favorite smell?

That unnamed, but particular aroma when I arrive in the Lowcountry and drive over the bridge at low tide.

Do you prefer Print or Ebook?

I prefer print but of course I read ebook.

Title: And Then I Found You

Author: Patti Callahan Henry

Release date: April 9th 2013

 Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Fiction

 

Synopsis:

Katie Vaughan is no stranger to tough choices.

She’s made them before. Now it’s time to do it again.

 

Kate has a secret, something tucked away in her past. And she’s getting on with her life.  Her business is thriving. She has a strong relationship with her family, and a devoted boyfriend whom she wants to love with all her heart. If Kate had ever made a list, Rowan would fill the imagined boxes of a perfect mate. She wants the facts to move from her head toward her heart and settle in with deep love, something past admiration and comfort. But when Kate discovers the small velvet box hidden in Rowan’s drawer, she panics.

 

It always happens this way. Just when Kate thinks she can love, just when she believes she can conquer the fear, she’s filled with dread. And she wants more than anything to make this feeling go away. But how?

 

When the mistakes have been made and the running is over, it’s time to face the truth. Kate knows this. She understands that a woman can never undo what can never be undone. Yet, for the first time in her life she also knows that she won’t fully love until she confronts those from her past. It’s time to act.

 

Can she do it? Can she travel to the place where it all began, to the one who shares her secret? Can the lost ever become found?

 

And Then I Found You gives new life to the phrase “inspired by a true story.” By travelling back to a painful time in her own family’s history, the author explores the limits of courage, and the price of a selfless act.

 

In this heartfelt novel of love, loss, and reunion, a woman reconnects with her first love, and the daughter they placed for adoption some thirteen years before.

 Buy Link 

Amazon

Author Bio

Patti Callahan Henry is a New York Times Bestselling novelist. She has published nine novels (Losing the Moon, Where the River Runs, When Light Breaks, Betweeen the Tides, The Art of Keeping Secrets, and Driftwood Summer, The Perfect Love Song, Coming up for Air and the upcoming And Then I Found You --April 2013, St. Martins Press). Patti has been hailed as a fresh new voice in southern fiction, appearing in numerous magazines (Good Housekeeping; SKIRT; The South; Southern Living, etc..). She has been short-listed for the Townsend Prize for Fiction. She has been nominated four different times for the Southeastern Independent Booksellers Fiction Novel of the Year. Her work is published in five languages and all novels are on Brilliance Audio.  Two of her novels were OKRA picks and Coming up For Air was an Indie Next choice. Patti is a a frequent speaker at fundraisers, library events and book festivals, discussing the importance of storytelling. Her next novel, AND THEN I FOUND YOU, will be released on April, 9th, 2013 by St. Martins Press. Patti Callahan Henry is a full time writer, wife and mother of three living in Mountain Brook, AL.

Website | Twitter

Tour Wide Giveaway

Win a copy of And Then I Found You (US Only)

Enter Here

Cover Reveal: The Last Hour by Charles Sheehan-Miles

Title: The Last Hour

Author: Charles Sheehan-Miles

Genre: Contemporary fiction

Age Group: Adult

Cover Designer: Okay Creations

Expected release date: May 15, 2013

  Twenty-seven year old Carrie Thompson-Sherman has the life she always wanted: her PhD, a prestigious fellowship, and an amazing husband. Her life begins to unravel as a jealous colleague puts her fellowship in jeopardy and a haunting secret Ray Sherman carried home from Afghanistan comes to light. Hounded by a federal investigation and the ensuing media feeding frenzy, Carrie and Ray desperately lean on each other, until a disastrous accident puts both Ray and her sister's lives at risk. In the last hour, Carrie and Ray will each find themselves faced with a choice. A choice that will change everything.   



About the Author 

Charles Sheehan-Miles has been a soldier, computer programmer, short-order cook and non-profit executive. He is the author of several fiction and non-fiction books, including the indie bestsellers Just Remember to Breathe and Republic: A Novel of America's Future.

Charles Sheehan-Miles | Facebook | Twitter

Author Interview: Forged in Grace by Jordan E. Rosenfeld

Author Interview

After "finishing" a version of this novel once titled "Little Alien"--you then hired an editor, and gutted some 375 pages down to a mere 119, before writing your way back to its current state. Why put yourself through this torture?  The novel just wasn't working. It was masking its flaws under fancy plot twists and implausible characters. Because of its partial Las Vegas setting, I thought I could get away with some big flights of fancy. Ultimately I came to see that it's a novel about two girls/women and their personal secrets/power. Coming back to that focus allowed me to access the real story I wanted to tell.

An early title of this novel was Little Alien, referring to Grace’s sense of being different and possibly even invoking her shame about her appearance. What led you to change the title?
I think in earlier drafts, as I was getting to know Grace I was exploring her through the lens of her alienation, her isolation because I couldn’t yet understand what being a burn survivor was like (indeed, I called her a burn “victim” then). But after talking with some burn survivors, and eventually casting off some superfluous and unnecessary fanciful plot twists, in the last big revision I came to see that there was far more material to probe in her coming back to the world, in the dark landscape of her friendship with her wild friend, and in actively connecting with people; so Little Alien no longer felt right. This is a book about Grace coming into her right to be alive, her power.

Let's just get this out of the way: Your character heals people. So is it magic, or is it the Memorex (sorry, 80s throwback!): Sigh. I guess that's a question each reader has to answer for herself. There are real cases of people healing others, and an entire industry that professes to be able to do so now--is acupuncture, Reiki, therapeutic touch and more, magic? On the one hand, I think you can take the healing gift as a metaphor; on the other, you can choose to see it as real. What's most important is how the "healing" works in Grace and what it does for her story.

Grace can heal others but not herself – something I think a lot of people can relate to in a metaphorical sense. Why do we have such a hard time letting go of our own struggles and hurts even as we encourage others to do so? 
Yes, you've tapped into one of the major themes of this novel. One of the things Grace and I share in common is what I've come to call “extreme empathy”--sometimes I identify so strongly with the pain of others that I can’t figure out where my own begins/ends.  I think it’s difficult to let go of our own struggles because they’re adaptive, they were our coping mechanisms as children and as adults we still get something out of them. Until we learn new strategies, we’re screwed.


You have an erratic writing process, care to share? 
Yes, I write this elaborate outline, sketching out the characters and their problems, and then proceed to completely depart from it. Somehow I take comfort in an outline, no matter that I rarely stick to it. I need to pretend I know where I'm going.

You were raised in Northern California by hippies. How did that influence your work? 
My parents were New Yorkers drawn to the wild, free spirit of California in the early 70s, raised on a healthy diet of 60s civil rights activism.  Their best friends were astrologers, artists, Reiki practitioners and massage therapists among other things (Yes, I speak New Age). I think that my upbringing  left me open at the edges. I wasn't raised in a religion, so there was a lot of seeking and exploration without anyone telling me if I was doing it right or wrong. While that may also come with its own set of problems, it left me interested in that edge of life that we can't fully explain, which turns up in all of my writing: healing powers, prophetic dreams, the creative spark that exists in artists... And I was an avid reader, and an only child until I was 14, which may have had more to do with my writing aesthetic than anything.

Title: Forged in Grace by
Author: Jordan E. Rosenfeld 
Publication date: February, 2013 
Genre: Psychological Suspense (Adult w/ YA and NA crossover appeal)

Grace Jensen survived a horrific fire at age 15. The flames changed her: badly scarred in body and mind, Grace developed an ability to feel other people’s pain. Unable to bear human touch, she has made a small life for herself in Northern California, living with her hoarder mother, tending wounded animals, and falling a little in love with her former doctor. Her safe world explodes when the magnetic Marly Kennet reappears in town; Grace falls right back into the dynamic of their complicated friendship. Marly is the holder of many secrets, including one that has haunted Grace for over a decade: what really happened the night of the fire?

When Marly exhorts Grace to join her in Las Vegas, to make up for the years they have been lost to each other, Grace takes a leap of faith and goes. Although Marly is not entirely honest about her intentions, neither woman anticipates that enlarging Grace’s world will magnify her ability to sense the suffering of others—or that she will begin to heal wounds by swallowing her own pain and laying her hands on the afflicted.

This gift soon turns darker when the truth of Marly’s life—and the real reason she ended her friendship with Grace—pushes the boundaries of loyalty and exposes both women to danger.

Buy Link

Amazon 

Book Trailer

Author Bio

Jordan E. Rosenfeld learned early on that people prefer a storyteller to a know-it-all. She channeled any Hermione-esque tendencies into a career as a writing coach, editor and freelance journalist and saves the Tall Tales for her novels. She earned her MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars and is the author of the books, Make A Scene: Crafting a Powerful Story One Scene at a Time (Writer’s Digest Books) and Write Free! Attracting the Creative Life with Rebecca Lawton (BeijaFlor Books). Jordan’s essays and articles have appeared in such publications asAlterNet.org, Publisher’s Weekly, The San Francisco Chronicle, The St. Petersburg Times, The Writer and Writer’s Digest magazine. Her book commentaries have appeared on The California Report, a news-magazine produced by NPR-affiliate KQED radio. She lives in Northern California with her Batman-obsessed son and Psychologist husband. 

Author Links

Website

Goodreads

Twitter

Cover Reveal: Running On Empty by L.B. Simmons

Title: Running On Empty

Author: L.B. Simmons

Genre: Contemporary Women’s Fiction

Expected release date: Jan 9, 2013

Cover Designer and website: Okay Creations, www.okaycreations.net

Cover reveal organized by: AToMR Tours

Book Description

I had the perfect life.
Beautiful and loving husband.
Three gorgeous little girls.
Successful career.
The only thing missing was the white picket fence.  I really wanted that fence.
Three years ago, I lost that life.  I lost my husband.  And I lost myself.  But, eventually, I found my way through the darkness.  I’ve made peace with my new life. I have my girls, and that’s all that matters. They are my world.  I have no illusions of ever falling in love again or getting whisked away on a white horse.
But then he came back into my life. On a freakin’ motorcycle.There’s no way I’ll let him turn my life completely upside down.  Absolutely no way.
The question is…How long can I keep pretending that I’m happy with my life being right-side up?

About the author

L.B. Simmons is a graduate of Texas A&M University and holds a degree in Biomedical Science.  She has been a practicing Chemist for the last 11 years.  She lives with her husband and three daughters in Texas.  Although they keep her busy, she writes every chance she gets. 

L.B. Simmons | Twitter | Facebook

Review: Grace Unexpected by Gale Martin

Author: Gale Martin
Publisher:  Booktrope Editions
Release Date: July 2nd 2012
Series: No
Genre: Adult - Contemporary Romance, Chick -Lit
Obtained From: Author

Read from August 13 to September 11, 2012

"Thirty-something Grace Savage has slogged through crummy jobs and dead-end relationships with men who would rather go bald than say “I do”. In search of respite from her current job, she visits Shaker Village in New Hampshire. Instead of renewal, she’s unnerved to learn that Shaker men and women lived and worked side by side in complete celibacy. When her longtime boyfriend dumps her instead of proposing, Grace avows the sexless Shaker ways. Resolved to stick to her new plan – dubbed the Shaker Plan – despite ovaries ticking like time bombs, she returns to her life in Pennsylvania. Almost immediately, she's juggling two eligible bachelors: Addison, a young beat reporter; and True, a venerable anthropology professor. Both men have ample charms and soul mate potential to test her newfound Shaker-style self-control, and Grace appears to be on the fast track to a marriage proposal… until secrets revealed deliver a death rattle to the Shaker Plan." - Goodreads

Currently $2.99 for Kindle - Amazon

 This was a case of "it's me, not you." I didn't realise this was a romance type chick-lit book. If I had I probably wouldn't have read it. Romance has a tendency of boring me. Love triangles just bore me twice as much. 

The first chapters were good and funny and typical of the chick-lit that I normally read, but I got to the half way mark and had to set it aside. Then it took me forever to pick it back up again. Why? Because I didn't care if she picked Addison or True. I wasn't interested in the romance which was the main plot. The little mystery part of the plot had me read those chapters quickly even though I knew who the "villlian" was, I still wanted to confirm it and see how it ended up, but the rest of the story just didn't interest me.  

The characters were so-so. Goody was great in the beginning when his character first appeared, but as the story progressed he seemed to forced and over done. 

The pacing was ok, just a bit uneven. It started ok, then there was just a lot of chatter and thoughts which slowed it down, then it picked up with the mystery, then it slowed down again. There were a lot of points were nothing was really happening because Grace was just talking or thinking about Addison this, and True that. 

I didn't hate this, but it just wasn't my type of book. I did however still find it enjoyable. So, Yes, it is just me - not the book. 
If you like light reads and chick-lit romance stories, give this a try, I'm sure you'll enjoy this. 

★★★
Liked It

**Thank you to Gale Martin and her publisher Booktrope for supplying me with a copy for review**

Review: One Breath Away

Author: Heather Gudenkauf
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Release Date: 26th June 2012
Genre: Fiction- Contemporary, Suspense
Obtained From: Purchased


Read from August 01 to August 12, 2012

"‘He has a gun.’ ‘Who? Tell me, where are you? Who has a gun?’ ‘I love you, Mum.’’ An ordinary school day in March, snowflakes falling, classroom freezing, kids squealing with delight, locker-doors slamming. Then the shooting started. No-one dared take one breath… He’s holding a gun to your child’s head. One wrong answer and he says he’ll shoot. This morning you waved goodbye to your child. What would you have said if you’d known it might be the last time?" - Goodreads

I'm having a hard time summing up my thoughts on this one. While I can break down my over ratings (see below) putting it into words isn't as easy. 

Overall I enjoyed the story and even the changing POV didn't bother me, although most of the time I only wanted to read Augie's and Mrs. Oliver's. The other POV's were from Augie's mum Holly, Holly's Dad and the police officer Meg. 

World building was limited, and although this isn't a fantasy or something that requires detailed world building, however due to the new and old combination of the school and the limited details it made it a little hard to work out where who and what and how long it takes to get from A to C and B to D. That's the best way I can put it as I don't want to give away details. 

The plot was simple but effective with extra little twists that I didn't see coming. I found the story big on "keeping you guessing" (eg. it would suggest one person, then do away with that suggestion one way or another, then again with another and so on) and the gun man was not who I thought and the link to him was a bit weak, but plausible. It wasn't fast paced, until towards the end. There were times when I wanted to just get a chapter, and therefore a POV, out of the way and get the characters I wanted to know about. Therefore I found it a bit of a drag at points. 

The characters were good and well developed. With the changing POV you were able to get an insight into where they came from and what they have been through before now. You felt for them and what they were going through. 

The main thing I didn't like was that the narrative switched from third person to first person.

This was the first book I have read by Heather Gudenkauf and I'd definitely read another by her. This was a good read. =)

★★★★
 Really Liked It

Review: Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K Hamilton

Author: Laurell K Hamilton
Publisher: Headline
Release Date: May 14th 2009 (first published 1993)
Genre: Adult/ Fantasy - Vampires
Obtained From: Borrowed From Library

★

Read from July 24 to 30, 2012

"Anita Blake may be small and young, but vampires call her the Executioner. Anita is a necromancer and vampire hunter in a time when vampires are protected by law—as long as they don't get too nasty. Now someone's killing innocent vampires and Anita agrees—with a bit of vampiric arm-twisting—to help figure out who and why. 

Trust is a luxury Anita can't afford when her allies aren't human. The city's most powerful vampire, Nikolaos, is 1,000 years old and looks like a 10-year-old girl. The second most powerful vampire, Jean-Claude, is interested in more than just Anita's professional talents, but the feisty necromancer isn't playing along—yet. This popular series has a wild energy and humor, and some very appealing characters—both dead and alive." - Source Goodreads

Ok, I've been tossing up between 1 or 2 stars. It came down to the fact that I skimmed part of it therefore meaning I wasn't enjoying it, so I settled on 1 star. I didn't hate it, but I think it's safe to say I will not be reading any more of this series. 
That said I know that Laurell Hamilton has loads of fans that love her books and that is awesome, it really is. I'm just not one of them. 

Those people that think (and say) if you didn't like it why did you read it - easy, I was intrigued by the book, by the people I have come across that loved it, and when I started reading it the world (what we were told of it) was intriguing. I wanted to know what happens. It is also very rare that I wont finish a book because no matter much I might not like it, there are things that I do and most of the time that is the plot. In this case, a who-dun-it. I wanted to know the answer. Its as simple as that. 

The vampires and the world are interesting. It would have been more interesting if more detail would have been provided. 

My problem with this book and therefore my attitude and rating towards it is mainly due to Anita.

Anita is insufferable. She is mean, arrogant, and overly blunt. Her constant use of "Naw" drove me crazy. It was doubly so when she was using it in response to her own rhetorical questions and conversations with herself. Everything she describes is agony to read. This book could have been half the size if the clothing and gun details, and Anita's conversations with herself had been removed. That 'space' would have been better spent on explaining the vampire myths (4 bites, etc) and how any of the other creatures came about. 

I didn't care for any of the other characters, to me they were like space fillers, empty shells there to help the story along and nothing else. I didn't care what happened to them. Jean-Claude's slow seduction of Anita was in part mildly interesting. 

If anyone can tell me how you do a "hubba hubba" motion with your hand and what it looks like, I'd love to know. I had no idea what it was about! 

I have never skimmed a book, it's just not something I want to do, but I could not bare the babbling any longer and just wanted to get to end and see what the point was. *sigh* I must admit I had higher hopes for this and feel kind of let down. :-(