Sandi Ward's Blog, page 6

America's Next Reality Star by Laura Heffernan

Why did I choose this book?

I’m not a die-hard reality show fan, but I’ve watched a few in my day (haven’t we all?) I enjoy shows that are based on hopes and dreams, where the contestants have compelling back-stories and a chance at winning redemption (or a great prize, like a new house). There’s probably no more popular type of show than the ones based on interpersonal drama and romance, which America’s Next Reality Star has in spades.

What is this book about?

This book is told from the point of view of Jen, a reality show contestant in “The Fishbowl”. The Fishbowl is a game that’s a combination of smarts, strength, and personal skills.

Will Jen win the grand prize and get back on her financial feet? After heartbreak, will she make a connection with handsome contestant Justin—and can she really trust him, when he’s competing against her? The storyline has plenty of built-in dramatic tension, including scenes with loyal friends and despicable bad guys, as the weeks advance toward the finale.

How would I describe the book?

This book is full of humor and amusing twists. I was chuckling to myself before I even left the Acknowledgments page. I’d describe it as a guilty pleasure and fun to read!

What did I like best about the story?
I related to Jen and would’ve made similar choices to the ones she made along the way. The ending paid off with a big moment worthy of a reality TV show. And I turned the last page with a smile on my face. What else could you ask for?

I received an Advance copy from NetGalley.

You can follow Laura on Twitter at: @LH_Writes.

Waiting for Butterflies by Karen Sargent

Why did I choose this book?

Considering all of the emotional turmoil happening in politics and the news right now, I thought I could use an uplifting story that promises grace and redemption. I appreciate stories that take into account the spiritual life of the characters. Faith is sometimes overlooked in contemporary fiction. Yet characters who have been through tragedy and had their beliefs tested can be compelling to read about.

What is the story about?

The story description gives away the fact that Maggie Blake, the mother in this story, dies unexpectedly. Her family (husband and two daughters) must deal with the aftermath. The mother’s spirit senses that it will be hard for her family to heal, and so she cannot let go—yet. She lingers to try and influence events. 

I worried alongside Maggie as I read about the difficulty her husband Sam has coping as a single father, and the bad choices her teenage daughter Rachel makes as she cannot reconcile the circumstances of her mother’s death. The story is sweet and sentimental at times, yet also raw and real in the depiction of mistakes made by family members both in the past and present.

What did I like best about the story?

If you are a parent, you will find yourself nodding along with Maggie at the times she can only watch and worry about her loved ones. Whether or not you believe in the idea of benevolent angels (or ghosts), I think most readers will have no problem suspending disbelief to imagine Maggie amongst her loved ones, praying for their redemption. I think any parent will be able to relate and find hope in the Blake family story.

You can find Karen's MOM blog here: http://www.karensargentblog.com

Some Kind of Magic: Excerpt

I'm very happy to be able to post here an excerpt from Mary Ann Marlowe's new debut novel, Some Kind of Magic, available now! She is a fellow Kensington Books author, and I remember seeing her book on desks when I went for a tour. Read on for a preview of her rock star romance...

I scanned the rest of the room. I wasn’t surprised to see he had a turntable. Micah had been buying vinyl for years. An entertainment unit held a wide-screen TV and a stack of DVDs. I walked over to check out his movie collection. A Netflix envelope sat on top, and I read the address. The name rang a bell.

“Adam Copeland?”

Then I remembered. Stacy and Kelly had crushed on a rock singer with the same name for a few weeks last summer, another impossibly hot guy with red hair. No, wait, that was a different band. I could never keep their celebrity crushes straight.

My eyes went wide. What if this was that same guy? They would die. He was a musician, after all. A wave of nausea crested as I took in my surroundings. The guy certainly had money.

Adam glanced up from a stack of records and caught me staring at him. “What?”

“Your name is Adam Copeland?” My mind raced. The apartment was his parents’, so the money was probably his parents’, too. If he was a rock star, wouldn’t he have some lavish penthouse overlooking Central Park?

He went back to flipping through albums, nonplussed. “Oh, yeah.”

I narrowed my eyes. If I asked him straight up, he’d think I was crazy, so I casually sauntered over to the side of his bed and leaned back, facing him. I picked at the hem of my shirt, and then, as though I was teasing, I tested the waters. “So, does everyone ask you if you’re any relation to that guy from that band?”

“Huh?” He pulled out a Van Morrison album and then dropped it back down, still on the search for whatever he was looking for.

Then it hit me. “Oh, God. I’m sorry. It must be an incredibly common name.”

He froze in place like a deer caught in the headlights, like he had no idea what I was talking about.

This was embarrassing. Awkwardly, I fumbled for an explanation, rambling. “You know that band? They have a song that gets played about a million times an hour.” On the spot, I couldn’t even remember the band’s name. I scraped my brain, tapping my fingers on the bed post. It came to me out of nowhere. “Walking Disaster!”

Adam rolled his eyes. “Riiiight.” He settled on an album and slid the vinyl record from the sleeve.

I hoped I hadn’t offended him somehow. Maybe it was an irritating comparison. If someone famous had my name, I’d find it annoying.

What was I thinking? As if some famous musician would just hang out at a club and buy me beers. And flirt. He’d definitely been flirting with me. Guys within my limited reach rarely bought me beers and flirted. How much chance would I have with a freaking rock star? I laughed at myself for losing my head temporarily.

Unfazed, Adam dropped an album onto the turntable. I smiled as a dead sexy Arctic Monkeys song started. “I love this song!”

He sidled up next to me and bumped me with his shoulder. “So you like that band, Walking Disaster?”

Was this a litmus-test question? Like asking someone if they like Nickelback? What if he had a checklist, too? What if he only liked girls who listened to the “right” music and immediately disdained girls who listened to whatever he found uncool? And why did I suddenly care what kind of girls he might like?

I shrugged, reaching for a safe nonchalant answer. “I don’t normally listen to them unless they come on the radio. I don’t intentionally listen to much current rock music, except for Micah’s. But my coworkers gush about that band. They tried to drag me out to see them just recently.”

“But you didn’t want to go?”

“No, I would’ve gone. But it was at the Meadowlands, and it was a weeknight. I had to get up early the next day.”

“To make perfume, right?” He leaned closer and breathed in. “What’s the name of this one?”

“Oh, I don’t know.”

“Mmm. You should call it ‘Irresistible.’ It smells nice.” He lifted my hand and laid a kiss against my wrist. My brain told me I should leave. I barely knew him.

But I didn’t want to leave. Adam’s lips felt so good against my skin. His dark eyes sought mine, looking for permission, maybe. The naked desire etched on his face sent a tingle through me. I wanted to feel his lips on mine, but he held back, so I bent toward him. He kissed me soft, and I tasted the hint of Jamaican spiced rum.

He broke away and drew back, so close but too far away. His eyes pierced mine, and his breathing hitched, but he hesitated. I felt tethered there, unable to move back, wanting to move forward. I reached up to touch the stubble on his cheek, then that cord on his neck I’d wanted to touch earlier. Without another thought, I twisted my fingers in his hair and pulled him back to me.

ABOUT SOME KIND OF MAGIC

"An amazing first novel." —Sydney Landon, New York Times bestselling author

 

In this sparkling debut novel, Mary Ann Marlowe introduces a hapless scientist who's swept off her feet by a rock star—but is it love or just a chemical reaction?...

Biochemist Eden Sinclair has no idea that the scent she spritzed on herself before leaving the lab is designed to enhance pheromones. Or that the cute, grungy-looking guy she meets at a gig that evening is Adam Copeland. As in the Adam Copeland international rock god and object of lust for a million women. Make that a million and one. By the time she learns the truth, she s already spent the (amazing, incredible) night in his bed.

Suddenly Eden, who's more accustomed to being set up on disastrous dates by her mom, is going out with a gorgeous celebrity who loves how down-to-earth and honest she is. But for once, Eden isn't being honest. She can't bear to reveal that this overpowering attraction could be nothing more than seduction by science. And the only way to know how Adam truly feels is to ditch the perfume—and risk being ditched in turn.

Smart, witty, and sexy, Some Kind of Magic is an irresistibly engaging look at modern relationships why we fall, how we connect, and the courage it takes to trust in something as mysterious and unpredictable as love.

 

ABOUT MARY ANN MARLOWE:

Some Kind of Magic is Mary Ann Marlowe’s first novel. When not writing, she works by day as a computer programmer/DBA. She spent ten years as a university-level French professor, and her resume includes stints as an au pair in Calais, a hotel intern in Paris, a German tutor, a college radio disc jockey, and a webmaster for several online musician fandoms, plus she has a second-degree black belt. She has lived in twelve states and three countries and loves to travel. She now lives in central Virginia where she is hard at work on her second novel. She loves to hear from readers and can be reached through her website at www.maryannmarlowe.com, Facebook, and Twitter.

Tragedy Comes in Threes

I’m a pantser, not a plotter, meaning that I write each page as it comes into my head, with no set plan. I have written all of my novels this way. That’s not to say I don’t do extensive re-writes and heavy editing. I once completely re-wrote a novel from scratch, because I loved the idea and characters but realized I wanted to write the story from a different point of view. But I resist outlines and don’t follow a pre-determined structure when writing a story.

Despite working with no outline, I have noticed a pattern to my stories. I tend to include three tragedies along the way. They often appear something like this:

Tragedy 1: This is a hardship that is apparent from the first page of the first chapter—a difficulty or problem the main character/narrator must overcome or solve. It sets the tone and grabs the reader’s attention (and hopefully empathy) from the outset. 

Tragedy 2: The true tragedy. This bigger tragedy is saved until at least half way through the book (or more) where there is a Big Reveal, and it is the true reason for the suffering of one or more characters.

Tragedy 3: In some ways acting like a red herring, this is an event that happens closer to the end that may impact the trajectory of the plot in a way the reader didn’t see coming. It does not necessarily change the ending, but adds a twist that may lend itself to a cliffhanger at the end of a chapter. It keeps the reader guessing.

I may have to look at other novels and see if I notice this pattern anywhere else. I’m sure I’m not breaking any new ground here, but it was interesting for me to notice that despite my aversion to outlines and plotting, there is a general structure that is common among my stories. At the same time, this format is loose enough to leave plenty of room for surprises along the way, as I write and see where my characters lead me.

The Promise of Pierson Orchard by Kate Brandes

Why did I choose this book?

The cover is lovely, and the book falls into my favorite genre: realistic, contemporary fiction. I was lucky enough to score an advance copy!

How was the pacing?

The Promise of Pierson Orchard is a book I tore right through, on the edge of my seat as I was reading. The story was fast-paced from beginning to end. It is a family drama with heart and meaning.

What's the story about?

A multi-generational family finds themselves conflicted as they debate the best future for their land and orchard when Green Energy offers to lease property in their town, promising financial relief, but also bringing the risks of drilling for natural gas: destruction of the land they love. I consider myself a friend of the environment, so the story appealed to me. At the same time, I appreciated that the story was not a one-sided, predictable description of the damage done by drilling. Instead, it was a balanced telling of both sides of the story. It was thought-provoking and well done.

What did I like best about the story?

My favorite aspect of the book was the family tension. Sibling relationships and rivalries make for very strong storytelling. Add in a love triangle, and you’ve got me hooked!

Jack was my favorite character. I love strong, brooding leading men. I related to his suffering and felt his abandonment (by both his wife and his mother, at different times in his life). I don’t know if finding solace through violence is an exclusively American concept, but when Jack fought, I felt like I understood why he was doing it.  

Overall take-away?

It was a very smart, enjoyable read! I’ll remember this story a long time.

Find out more about Kate Brandes on her Web Site: http://www.katebrandes.com

Feast of Sorrow by Crystal King

Why did I choose this book?

While I don’t read a lot of historical fiction, I love to watch it on TV or in a film. I wondered if Feast of Sorrow would remind me of HBO’s show Rome (which I thought was an amazing show). 

How was the pacing?

This story lived up to my expectations. It's a spectacular portrayal of intrigue, shrewd political maneuvering, and human greed that had me hooked from page one. I flew through the pages from start to finish.  

What's the book about?

The level of detail provided about ancient Rome—the food, customs, and way of life— transported me to that place and time, and I felt fully immersed. More importantly, the characters drew me in, especially the main character Thrasius, who is servant, head chef and friend to Apicius, one of the wealthiest and most ambitious men in Rome. Thrasius is loyal, but sometimes disappointed in his master.

Apicius achieves glory through his parties, cooking school and recipes, and he realizes it is largely due to the efforts of Thrasius, his trusted advisor. Thrasius serves as a filter through which we see the folly of Apicius’ reckless actions, but we also understand why Thrasius stays devoted to a man who can sometimes be very generous.

There is plenty of family drama, both betrayal and acts of bravery. The plot accelerates as time passes, building to a shocking—but perhaps inevitable—finale. Apicius must pay for his blind ambition, which also affects Thrasius, who must witness what fate has in store.

What did I like best about the book?

I liked the depiction of how a wealthy family in ancient Rome with many slaves operated and grew in power.

Overall take-away?

This was a very enjoyable book, complete with high-stakes drama, romance, and murder. This book comes out April 2017. Find out more about it at: www.crystalking.com .