What's in the mail

Melissa A:

The Good Luck Girls of Shipwreck Lane by Kelly Harms from St. Martin's Press

Shake Down the Stars by Renee Swindle from Penguin (New American Library)

Redesigning Rose by/from Lydia Laceby

Recipe for a Happy Life by Brenda Janowitz from St. Martin's Press

Spring Awakening by T.J. Brown from Gallery Books

Melissa P:

Both from Trafalgar Square Publishing:

The Day You Saved My Life by Louise Candlish

Amber Scott is Starting Over by Ruth Saberton




Kathryn:

When Good Friends Go Bad by/from Ellie Campbell (e-book)




Becky:

The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden by Jessica Sorenson from Sphere

Party Games by Jo Carnegie from Transworld

Necessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain from Macmillan

The Life List by Lori Nelson Spielman from Random House UK

Book Review & Giveaway: Sweet Salt Air

By Miriam Plotinsky

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I went on a mini-vacation to the beach for some rare time off. It rained almost the entire time we were gone, but I didn’t care because, to paraphrase an old travel commercial, "a bad day at the beach is better than a great day anywhere else." When we got back, a much more well-rested and friendly version of me kept the relaxed vibe going with Barbara Delinsky’s Sweet Salt Air, a novel that takes place on an enviably sensuous and private Maine island called Quinnipeague.

The book opens with Charlotte, a wandering writer who picks up freelance jobs all over the world. Despite strong hesitation, she decides to spend the summer in Quinnipeague when her childhood best friend, Nicole, asks for help writing a cookbook about the island’s legendary fare. Because of a dark secret from the past, Charlotte hasn’t been to the island in years, but she capitulates out of a strong sense of obligation to Nicole. As they spend the summer collecting island recipes that feature the potent herbs of a mysterious island woman and her son, Charlotte finds herself getting sucked back into the drama that resulted from a major betrayal years before.

Much of the book’s appeal comes not from the mystery behind Charlotte’s hesitation in going back to Quinnipeague, which is revealed fairly early in the book, but rather from the suspense surrounding Nicole’s husband, Julian, who has Multiple Sclerosis. Julian, a noted surgeon, is intent on trying an experimental treatment with umbilical stem cells to improve his condition, since the MS tremors have interfered with his ascendant career. However, because the treatment could incapacitate or even kill him, he and Nicole are in constant turmoil as they try to navigate the path to potential recovery.  Adding to the drama is Charlotte’s budding relationship with a reclusive islander, Leo. As Julian gets sicker and Charlotte’s relationship with Leo becomes increasingly and unexpectedly serious, the characters are forced to decide just how much they will change the lives and habits that have entrapped them for so long.

Sweet Salt Air is full of sensory delights. Food is featured in a detailed, loving way that indicates a true respect for the culinary arts. In fact, sometimes the story almost takes a backseat to the gathering of recipes and the descriptions of table settings, but it’s a welcome break from the intensity of feeling that the characters experience. As for the story itself, while it is sinfully escapist, it occasionally pushes suspension of disbelief a little far. One of the characters lives in a house that just seems too good to be true given his circumstances, but it still feels luxurious to read about a place like that. As for the stem cell cure that Julian is intent on receiving, the fairy-tale denouement of that episode might leave a sour taste in the mouths of those who struggle with MS. Then again, it could also provide a ray of hope.

Either way, Delinsky’s latest novel provides a welcome respite from day-to-day struggles. A real beach vacation is lovely, of course, but in its place, a visit to Quinnipeague functions as a good placebo for actual salt air.

Thanks to Wunderkind PR for the book in exchange for an honest review. They also have one copy for a lucky reader in the US or Canada.

How to win:    
Please tell us your favorite thing to do at the beach.

One entry per person.

Please include your e-mail address or another way to reach you if you win.

US/Canada only. Giveaway ends July 24th at midnight EST.

More by Barbara Delinsky:

Home and Away with Lindsey Kelk...plus a book giveaway

Introduction by Melissa Patafio

This is an exciting day for us! British author Lindsey Kelk, who is best known for the "I Heart" series, is back at CLC to dish about her latest book, About a Girl (reviewed here).

It's hard not to love Lindsey. She's a real "chick lit" gal with a passion for shoes, music, and New York. It's the perfect trifecta for most of us chick lit lovers out there.

We are so happy that she decided to chat with us again and share a little more about herself with all of you through our "Home and Away" Q&A. And thanks to HarperCollins UK, there's one copy of About a Girl for a lucky reader anywhere in the world!

Visit Lindsey at her website, Facebook and Twitter.

Home:

If we were to visit you where you currently live, what would you take us to see first?
I live in Park Slope in Brooklyn but I'm a good host, so the first place I'd take you would either be the bagel place, the BBQ place or the 24 hour diner, depending on the time. After that, provided it wasn't three in the morning, we'd got o Prospect Park. It's gorgeous and, in my humble opinion, much nicer than Central Park!

What is your favorite local restaurant?
There are so many! Fletchers for BBQ, Lobo for Mexican and margaritas or Talde for something a bit different.


Tell us one feature that would be a must-have for the house of your dreams?
Big, standalone, cast iron bathtub. Without question.

Away:

What was your favorite city to write about for the "I Heart" series?
Oh that's too hard! I think New York will always win. It's my home. And it wasn't for an "I Heart" but I totally fell in love with Hawaii. I'm desperate to go back.

Where did you go for your last holiday?
My last proper holiday was in California. I went to Coachella music festival and stayed in LA and Palm Springs. I don't think I'll ever be able to camp in a muddy tent ever again, I've been completely spoiled.

During which season do you prefer to travel? Does the season affect where you go? (Like do you ski in winter or go to a warm location instead?)
I love traveling any time but as I'm getting older, I do find myself seeking out the sun in winter and trying to dodge the summer humidity in New York. Last winter I went to Hawaii, Los Angeles and Australia and later this summer, I have a research trip to Italy booked. Currently thinking about January 2014 in LA - there are worse ways to plan, surely?

Thanks to Lindsey for chatting with us and HarperCollins UK for sharing her book with our readers.

How to win: Use the Rafflecopter to enter. If you have questions on how to use it, e-mail us.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Worldwide. Giveaway ends July 23rd at midnight EST.

Book Review: About a Girl

By Melissa Amster

As you may already know, Hawaii is on my bucket list of places to travel. It looks so beautiful there and I would love to spend a week both exploring and relaxing on the beach. In the meantime, I have Lindsey Kelk to thank for the virtual trip there courtesy of her latest novel, About a Girl.

Tess Brookes had a plan and in a split second, it all fell apart. Jobless and humiliated by the object of her affection, what else is she to do when she picks up a call intended for her flat mate, Vanessa, to do a photo shoot in Hawaii? Soon she is in a tropical paradise, pretending to be Vanessa and psyching herself up for a photo shoot where everything is going wrong. It doesn’t help that the attractive and egotistical journalist is paying special attention to her….or does it? Soon, Tess wonders if it is worth pretending to be someone she is not or if she should just go with the flow and live her life the way Vanessa would.

At first, I thought the story was going to be another version of Original Cyn by Sue Margolis. That story is also about a woman taking on someone else’s identity (of someone she dislikes) for career purposes. Both stories also have feisty girlfriends, gay male friends and attractive potential love interests. However, the similarities end there as About a Girl involves traveling and there are other mishaps involved, including Tess’ lack of self-confidence due to the way her family treats her. You can’t help but want to hug her throughout the story, as she is so vulnerable…even when she’s not trying to be.

If you’re looking for an intense, drama-filled tearjerker, this is not the novel for you. It is an escapist beach read with lots of amazing descriptions, colorful characters and some laugh-out-loud moments. It is entertaining throughout, with some surprises I didn’t see coming at all. (Three cheers for lack of predictability!) While there are some scenes that didn’t really need to be there as they were more “filler” than anything else, the story still flows nicely for the most part. And best of all, it doesn’t tie up neatly in the end, leaving room for a sequel that I suspect will be just as enjoyable!

Naturally, I was casting this movie in my head. Even though most of the characters are supposed to be British, given that Hollywood changes everything to the US (such as Confessions of a Shopaholic and P.S. I Love You), I took some liberties of my own.

Tess: Zooey Deschanel
Vanessa (Tess’ skanky flat mate): Krysten Ritter
Amy (Tess’ best friend): Kate Micucci
Nick (the hot journalist): Josh Lucas or Paul Walker
Paige (the artistic director): Rachel McAdams
Charlie (The object of Tess’ affections): Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Kekipi (Tess’ gay male friend in Hawaii): Alec Mapa

Thanks to HarperCollins UK for the book in exchange for an honest review. They're giving away a copy along with Lindsey's interview.

More by Lindsey Kelk:

Book Review: All My Restless Life to Live

By Jami Deise

Everyone who knows me – and even some people who don’t – know that I am a huge soap opera fan. When I was in high school in the 1980s, there were 12 soaps on the air and somehow I managed to follow the stories and characters in each one. And although I recently quit watching General Hospital for the fourth time in my life, I still hold the daytime drama genre very close to my heart. So I was very excited to read Dee DeTarsio’s novel, All My Restless Life to Live.

Protagonist Elle Miller is a producer for cable soap I’d Rather Be Loved (IRBL), based in San Diego rather than Los Angeles. However, this book is not a novel version of the movies Tootsie, Soap Dish or Nurse Betty – it does not provide a realistic (albeit funny) look behind the scenes at the making of a daytime soap opera. Elle’s title is producer, but she spends most of her time writing, and is even cajoled into acting at one point. For most readers, these details won’t matter, but for those looking for an accurate behind-the-scenes look at the making of a soap opera, that’s not what this book provides.

What All My Restless Life to Live does provide is a mostly amusing query on what happens after death. Elle’s father died a year ago, and since then Elle’s been holding on to guilt that she wasn’t there. When her computer breaks, Elle asks her mother Irene for her father’s Mac, which Irene has kept as a kind of shrine. Since Elle doesn’t know that Irene dumped her dad’s ashes onto the keyboard, she’s shocked when Irene says no, and eventually performs a switch-a-roo. Soon after, she starts getting messages from her dad on the computer. Is it really him? If so, what is he trying to say? As Elle ponders this dilemma, she also has to deal with problems at her job and her prima donna boss Liam, her attraction to IRBL star Brad, and her new relationship with a doctor – who might be into her or just might be after a prize if he can prove there’s life after death.

All My Restless Life to Live has a lot of funny moments – Elle is a bit of a klutz and is sometimes prone to saying or doing the wrong thing, as many chick lit heroines are. It also has several long conversations about “what happens after you die” between Elle and many different characters, which I started to find tedious. DeTarsio sets up several different plotlines, such as Elle’s mother’s new boyfriend, Elle’s relationship with her best friend Adam, and a set piece at the Daytime Emmys, along with the main thread about her father’s computer. And she does an admirable job in pulling them all together. The novel ends on a sweet, hopeful note.

Overall, All My Restless Life to Live is a fun story with an amusing protagonist. But it’s not the book to give you an inside look behind the scenes at a real daytime soap.

Thanks to BookSparks PR for the book in exchange for an honest review.

More by Dee DeTarsio:

Home and Away with Cecelia Ahern....plus a book giveaway

Introduction by Melissa Amster

We are thrilled and honored to have Cecelia Ahern visiting CLC today. She is one of the authors Melissa P. and I initially bonded about when we reconnected on Facebook back in 2009. Her books are heartfelt, entertaining and quirky. She is best known for P.S. I Love You, which was made into a movie a few years later. Other fabulous works of hers include Rosie Dunne (a.k.a. Love, Rosie), If You Could See Me Now and Thanks for the Memories. Her latest novel, One Hundred Names (reviewed here) is being published in paperback in the UK this week, and I'm sure that it won't be long before it comes to the US.

Cecelia is here today to answer our "Home and Away" questions. I hope you will enjoy her answers as much as we did! I even have one of her books to send to a lucky reader anywhere in the world! (It's a surprise though...)

Visit Cecelia at her website, Facebook and Twitter.

Home:

Favorite place you liked to hang out at when you were a kid? 
I used to sit in my wardrobe (Dublin, Ireland) and listen to Michael Jackson's "Bad Album" on a Fisher Price record player. I'd also make up stories in my head so I believe that's the beginning of my storytelling.

If we were to visit you where you currently live, what would you take us to see first? 
I would bring you to Co. Kerry in the South west of Ireland to the Gap of Dunloe and I'd let you sit there and take in the view!

Tell us one feature that would be a must-have for the house of your dreams?
A chef would be ideal!

Away:

Where did you go for your last holiday? 
We stayed on The Palm in Dubai in December and it was beautiful.

Where is the farthest location you've ever traveled to? 
Australia. I've been twice on book tours and I love the country. I think Australians are the most relaxed, friendly people of all. Hobart, Tasmania was my favourite place on my last trip, it's so beautiful.


Do you have a favorite traveling outfit that you bring on every trip? No!

Thanks to Cecelia for visiting with us and to HarperCollins UK for coordinating this interview.

How to win: Use the Rafflecopter to enter. If you have questions on how to use it, e-mail us.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Worldwide. Giveaway ends July 21st at midnight EST.

Book Review: One Hundred Names

Journalist Kitty Logan’s career has been destroyed by scandal, and she now faces losing the woman who guided her and taught her everything she knew. At her mentor’s bedside, Kitty asks her – what is the one story she always wanted to write?
The answer lies in a file buried in Constance’s office: a list of one hundred names. There is no synopsis, no explanation, nothing else to explain what the story is or who these people are. The list is simply a mystery.

But before Kitty can talk to her friend, it is too late.

With everything to prove, Kitty is assigned the most important task of her life – to write the story her mentor never had the opportunity to. Kitty has to not only track down and meet the people on the list, but find out what connects them. And, in the process of hearing ordinary people’s stories, she uncovers Constance’s – and starts to understand her own… (Synopsis courtesy of Cecelia Ahern's website.)

Melissa Amster:

As soon as I heard about a new Cecelia Ahern book becoming available, I immediately went on a quest to find it. Thankfully, a friend sent me her copy and I couldn't wait to dig in. After a few surreal stories from Cecelia, One Hundred Names was a refreshing break. It's a more simplistic story in the grand scheme of things, but it flowed along nicely and kept my interest throughout. While it started off a bit slow, it picked up steam in no time, drawing me right into Kitty's world to find the answers she was seeking.

I didn't really know what to expect from this novel and was prepared for it to go in any direction, allowing it to surprise me in many ways. Kitty had some unlikable moments in the beginning, but then I came to realize that she had a good heart and was generally misunderstood.  I enjoyed seeing her find her way back to where she needed to be. I really liked the stories she uncovered and found it interesting to get to know these other characters through glimpses into their lives. At first I thought it would detract from the story, but it actually added more substance.

Overall, One Hundred Names is a sweet story that inspired me to do a project for my personal blog. It's called "52 Stories" and it's been going on for over half a year already. If you're interested in participating, you  know where to find me...


Becky Gulc:

By my own admission I’ve always considered Cecelia Ahern’s books to be growers rather than immediately captivating. Over the years I’ve read pretty much all of her books, my sister is a big fan so I’ve ended up borrowing them after she’s raved about them. For each one (perhaps with the exception of P.S. I Love You, which I instantly loved) I’ve found the ‘magical’ aspect a bit hard-going, difficult to get into at first but each time I’ve ended up loving it by the time I’ve finished and it’s this magical feel that makes Cecelia Ahern’s work unique. I particularly loved The Gift and A Place Called Here. So when I was sent One Hundred Names for review (with its sublime packaging) I was delighted.

Based on the synopsis, I was confident this book would offer the same magical feel of Cecelia’s previous work. The expectation of the ‘mystery’ being unravelled maintained my interest throughout the bulk of the book, this was despite me not really ‘bonding’ with the central character of Kitty that much for the first half of the book at least. She’s not that likable, and as you’re pretty much in her world, this was a shame.

I did enjoy the back stories of the people Kitty meets and the adventures she gets up to in hunting down these mysterious people and, as these evolved, Kitty did become more likeable as she started to show her caring side. The problem I had was that the book just never (for me) delivered on its promise, it was building up to something that for me never occurred and I felt let down by how the ‘mystery’ was tied up. We only actually got to know a handful of the ‘one hundred’ people too; I was sure there would be some clever way of them all being brought in more than actually occurred. If it wasn’t a Cecelia book maybe I wouldn’t have had such high expectations about a fairy tale type ending and maybe I would have been satisfied with it as it was, but as a Cecelia book? I’m afraid if I’m honest I was a little disappointed and found it a bit long-slog for little reward and felt it lacked the charm and escapism of some of her other books. There were signs of this with some of the characters she meets but this didn’t go far enough for me. Everyone’s tastes are different though so I know I may be in a minority here with this viewpoint. Although this wasn’t my favourite I still wouldn’t hesitate to pick up Cecelia’s next novel.

Thanks to HarperCollins UK for the book in exchange for an honest review.

More by Cecelia Ahern: