Tara Chevrestt's Blog, page 147

Giveaway of A Facebook Affair: Winner

The winner of a digital copy of my newest contemporary romance is T.L.N. I've emailed you the file. Happy reading!

Ride for Rights: Inez Milholland

In Ride for Rights, coming February 10th, 2012 from MuseItUp Publishing , Angeline and Adelaide Hanson meet a variety of fascinating women on their ride across the United States. Many of these women are loosely based on fascinating women in history during that time. The real sisters, the Van Burens, mostly likely did not meet these women, but when penning historical fiction, one is allowed to take liberties provided they explain them in Author's Notes. 

In Ride, the sisters find themselves in a jail cell in Dodge City, Kansas...only one woman can save them. Inez. 


Inez smiled Joe's way. "First, let's get these young ladies out of here. Mr. Cooper, I'm Mrs. Mulholland, and I am here to represent these very lovely and very wronged young women." She gestured to the two women standing and looking smugly from behind the bars. "A woman lawyer?" The sheriff practically spat the words. "Women are to be discreet, chaste keepers at home, good and obedient to their husbands, not running around the world bein' lawyers and ridin' motorbikes!"Inez laughed, and this only seemed to anger the sheriff further. Alan was wondering if the man was about to have a heart malfunction and prepared to run for help if the need arose. Joe was rather hoping the man would have a heart malfunction. Inez just looked calmly at the sheriff and said, "Let's talk about that, shall we?"
Who was the real Inez? If you've seen the movie Iron Jawed Angels, she was played by the lovely Julia Ormond. She really was involved in the suffrage movement and rode the white horse in the parade. She was born in 1866 and grew up in Brooklyn. She became a lawyer, proposed to her husband rather than waiting, and never had children. A woman way ahead of her time. 
In 1916 while the Van Burens were doing their real life ride, Inez was touring the west speaking for women's rights. It's quite possible she was in the vicinity. Sadly, she had poor health, pernicious anemia, and she died that very year. Her last public words were, "Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty?" 
A mountain was even named after this amazing woman. Mount Discovery in the Adirondacks was renamed Mount Inez.

Interview @ Flashlight Commentary!

Hi, all! I'm over on Flashlight Commentary today talking what all went into A Facebook Affair, how the idea was born, and working with a publisher. Come on over and leave a comment or just check out the lovely blog.

Interview at Flashlight Commentary

Nobody Girl by Leslie DuBois

I'm a big fan of Leslie Dubois now, I think. This is the second book I have read by her and though I don't love it as much as I did the first one I read, I really enjoyed it. Dubois tackles sensitive subjects and touchy story lines with an artistic skill and an engaging voice. 

What this contains: A woman living with the knowledge she was found in a dumpster and adopted, the possibility she's a pedophile as she discovers a summer fling is actually a high school student, divorce, and lack of self esteem. Also: Adultery, prostitution, interracial dating, undercover cops, drug rings, computer hacking... Really.. awesome stuff. There's no end to the excitement and I was on the edge of my seat. I devoured this in one day, no skimming. 
My only quibbles: It was too predictable. This didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story, but when I compare it to the shocker Ain't No Sunshine, I was expecting more by way of surprises. There were some typos too. 

4 stars and I won this on LibraryThing Member Giveaways.

Giveaway of A Facebook Affair

[image error] Hi all! Friday, the ninth, my first contemporary romance comes out from Breathless Press. I have one copy left to giveaway... I have epub, mobi, pdf.. la de da. So one lucky winner gets one. Leave a comment below and be sure to leave your email address for me and what kind of file you would like. Contest ends Sunday the 11th whenever I get up that morning and the winner will be chosen by Jazzy from her dog bowl. :)

Synopsis: 



When Kelly and Brandon rediscover each other on Facebook after twenty years apart, it sparks an attraction that even distance can't extinguish. Do they truly have a future, or is this just a Facebook affair?Kelly Littleton takes the plunge and finally joins Facebook to socialize without the limits that her hearing impairment gives her. On a whim, she looks up a childhood friend. In sending him that first message, she ignites the memories of a crush from twenty years ago. But will they turn into the flames of romance, or end up the ashes of a Facebook affair?Brandon Hopkins has a lot on his plate. A recent divorce, a pregnant sister, and now, he realizes he's in love with a woman who lives states away. Can he overcome the boundaries of internet romance to make this desire turn into something real, or will adversity and distance be their undoing?And for those willing to buy it, here's the link: A Facebook Affair on Breathless Press.
Thank you all for your time and good luck!

December's Lit Asylum

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Come check out the great articles this month in Lit Asylum!!! First of all, an interview with Elizabeth Chadwick. She also permitted Lit to post a sneak peak of her WIP, The Summer Queen. I have two "articles" in it myself. I feel funny calling them articles as one is just a list of Top Ten Books for Dog Lovers for those who need to buy a gift this Holiday Season for that dog loving friend and one is just reviews about book touching on the subject of honor killings and rape. And for those who love those out of print, but still good historical novels: Top 10 Out of Print Historicals by Carol Jean.

In Her Sights by Robin Perini

Action packed from the get go. 


The low down: Jazz Parker is a take no dirt from anyone female sniper on SWAT. She's the only woman and she's got a lot to prove. She's somewhat ostracized from the team because of her sex and the brick wall she has built around herself. That wall is there for a reason though. She's got a secret past and identity she ran away from, or thought she did.


Luke almost knocked down her defenses once so she left him. Luke is former military and gets to the bottom of things. He ends right smack in the middle of a revenge plot that's main focus is Jazz. 


So what we end up with: Dirty cops, snipers, slashed up trucks, kidnapped girls, a family and group of brothers placed in danger, a sordid past coming up again and again, and lots of butter rum lifesavers as the heroine sucks on them or reaches for them constantly. (A minor irritation.)


I thought I had it all figured out but apparently not. I figured it out for real in the last quarter.. A good yarn. The sex was good, but considering the hero had a box of condoms next to the butter rum lifesavers, why weren't they  using them? She's a SWAT sniper. Getting pregnant probably isn't a good idea.


Also found myself rolling my eyes at the super sweet little girl. Gimme a break. The whole world doting on her, all her preciousness. Thought the ending was over sappy, but overall it's a good, action packed read with a tough as nails heroine.


Four stars and I got this from Amazon Vine.

A Facebook Affair Available for Pre-Order

[image error] Yes, you can pre-order my December release, a contemporary romance novel on the publisher's website. :) Go check it out and order your copy today.

Here's the link: Pre Order AFBA on Breathless Press

There Is No Dog by Meg Rosoff

At first, I found this book hilarious and was spending more time laughing than reading. Let's pretend that God is really a teenage boy who's really horny and every time he falls in love with a chick, a mortal chick, the earth is destroyed by crazy weather. Every time he forgets to turn off the water in his bathtub, the earth is flooded. And this is a very lazy, self-centered, God named Bob who's mother won the planet earth in a galaxy poker game. The author gets a star for uniqueness alone. LOL

Bob is yet in love with another mortal girl, Lucy. But it can't work because Lucy is going to age, wither, and rot and Bob is going to stay Bob. There's also Mr. B who does all the work and wishes to resign, Estelle (I have nothing much to say about her. Her character didn't have a lot of impact, really.) Bob's mom... and this was just too weird. I'll get to that.


The book reminds me of an Adam Sandler movie. It's stupid. It's so stupid, it's funny. 


--Bob screws up his face and farts. (Remember, Bob is God.)


--And Bob said, "Let the earth bring forth grass and the fruit tree," and it did, and Mr. B had to admit that many of the fruits were inventive and delicious, with one or two exceptions-pomegranates, which seemed to be all form and no function, and lemons, which caused his mouth to purse up like a duck's anus...


There's more. There are some absolutely hilarious moments, but they were mostly in the beginning. As the book continued, I discovered I was no longer laughing. The jokes stopped. Bob just became stupid and petulant. The plot.. wasn't going anywhere, really. By the end, had it not been for the laughs, I realized there was no point to reading this book. And Bob's mom.. a prime example of weirdness that was too much.. she runs around wearing nothing but a few postage stamps? Are these little people?


I appreciate the good idea, however, and also like the entire joke of God being a teenage boy and yet the entire world is brainwashed into think he's something wonderful simply because he created man in his own image and instilled in them the desire to worship him. Ha ha ha.


Three stars and this is an ARC I got through Shelf Awareness. Thus, the quotes may not be exact. 

Alias Dragonfly by Jane Singer

Female Spy, Civil War.. and for once, on the Union side... I saw this and declared I must read it. 
The synopsis: Maddie is fifteen, her mother is dead, her father is off to fight in the Civil War, and she's been dumped at her Confederate loving aunt's boarding house. She finds herself in the middle of intrigue and ends up recruited by Pinkerton agents as a spy. Turns out Maddie has a really good eye..
I should've loved it, but I didn't. Nothing wrong with the writing style, let's get that out there. What did work for me is:
1. She doesn't become a spy until halfway through. The going is slow till then. The seventy percent point, she's still practicing maneuvers. 
2. Some things were just too preposterous. We're supposed to believe that Aunt Salome, the old stick in the mud, the same lady who gripes at Maddie for not dressing properly, is going to allow one of her boarders to just drag Maddie off to his sister's house for two days without a chaperone? I don't think so.
3. It took so long for Maddie and her reporter friend to follow her dad and his troops to the battle that they had to camp and all, but when the battle's over, Maddie simply hops on a wagon and voila! She's back at the boarding house.. ?
4. The reports, newspaper editorials.. What was the point? 
5. Master of Disguise? Not till the very end almost.
By the time the action occurred, I wasn't motivated to go any further. I give this a two. Again, like the style, but way too drawn out. Needs more action in the beginning. 
This was a netgalley book.