Go-to-Gay: Gotta have faith

Introduction by Melissa Amster

Gary Edwards and I share a horoscope sign (Cancer), which explains why we're both so caring and nurturing. However, we still have many different traits, quirks, and interests that make us individuals and also allow us to connect and appreciate one another that much more. 

Today, Gary is talking about what makes him unique, as he celebrates "Chick Lit Soup for the Soul" month here at CLC, as well as his birthday, which took place earlier this week.


Unique

Who the heck do you think you are? As I approach the end of my forties, I wonder what defines me? I try to listen but I am not always the best at it. I try to be the best person I can and when I fail I make amends. But who am I? I spent a good portion of my life seeing and observing that I am different. It always felt wrong for me to be different. But, as I age I celebrate the fact that I am unique.

I am a nature lover, a gardener, a budding painter. I love to hike, explore, practice yoga. I can get lost in a day reading, gardening or taking pictures of nature as it unfolds. I am also a husband, son, brother, uncle, nephew, cousin and friend. I had a career as a travel agent for over 10 years worked for Delta, AAA & American Express. I have been a sales/account rep and did interior landscape design for over a decade as well. I have followed my passion leaving the corporate world and worked at a bakery and helped run a small inn. Now, I am Wade’s Gal Friday, helping him with anything Wade-related. I have worn many hats and been many things. All of these along with my interests and life experiences have shaped me to be the individual that I am. I have never allowed one to define me, but instead each is a part of me.

I think the biggest thing that defines me is faith. I have a deep faith in people and find great joy watching people grow and blossom. It’s a faith and belief that we can be and do anything we set our minds to. We are the ones that stop ourselves with negative thought and not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I think people are good, that deep inside we are all the same. I am a people person, and I love meeting new people as well as being with my close friends. I try to honor my friends and people I meet by valuing what makes them who they are. Not different, odd, wrong, but interesting, fascinating and just perfect the way they are. Each person shines and has a beautiful gift to bring to the world, themselves!

Wade and I moved to a little town called Fennville, Michigan, about 10 years ago. It has a population of almost 1400 people. It is just next to bustling summer resort town and about 50 minutes from the city of Grand Rapids. It is small and tucked away like being tucked in a cozy bed. Sometimes you think you need to stretch and have more room, but really you have exactly what you need. The coolest thing about our town is it’s full of different people. When I first moved here I was afraid that people would only see how I was different and not like me. It has been the opposite; I am accepted for being “just me.” I have learned so much from both locals and transplants that have moved here. Life here unfolds, and if you slow down you see it. You slow down and listen to stories, to hear both people and nature. You see people as the compassionate souls that they are. We are all grasping and reaching for the same things: to feel loved, accepted, to find peace, happiness and contentment.

In this tiny little town there is a balance. Ignorance can sometimes rare its head, but for the most part, people look the other way when it happens. With the recent Supreme Court national legalization of marriage for all, it has ended one of my negative thoughts of not feeling accepted. Not a thought of being accepted by friends and family or people in the town I live. But truly feeling accepted in the US and having equal rights that every American should have. This shift has happened: positive thinking and positive loving people are winning. People are learning to accept and know that loving, caring and accepting is what life is about. People are slowly letting go of judgment, fear and anger. Slowly learning to understand, embrace and accept differences, while knowing that each soul, each person is unique and special.

So on this day as I get my car worked on in this little town, and have lunch at The Blue Goose Café, I look around and see people different from me but know we are one, each with its own sparkle. We are all unique, from the Vietnam Vet and farmer to the single Mom and the girl getting ready to celebrate her quinceanera. I am at America’s Table, the land of the free, the land of the brave. We are all so brave to stand up and fight to be treated equally and also to stand up and fight for what is right. To value each person for being unique, for being diverse, just like this great country we live in.

What makes you, you? Do you have anything in common with me? What is your favorite Chicken Soup for the Soul moment? Mine is today, being here in the moment and knowing how we have grown as a country and how we will continue to grow. That love and kindness will always win. Tell me how you are unique and what you value about our diverse country? Signing off as the train whistles by the Blue Goose- True Americana at its finest.

Gary Edwards is the marketing and events manager for bestselling author Wade Rouse. Edwards arranges Rouse’s tour schedule, speaking engagements as well as coordinates and facilitates his writing workshops and retreats.  Additionally, Edwards has helped market and promote all five of Rouse’s books. Edwards also has a background in hospitality, and sales as well as design.   With his vast professional background and a love to listen and help friends he is a perfect storm of love and nurture. Edwards is Martha Stewart meets Dear Abby with a dash of Mrs. Doubtfire.  For more, please friend him on Facebook and Twitter.

Three "heart"-y bowls of soup...plus a book giveaway

Today, we have three authors here to tell you their "Chick Lit Soup for the Soul" stories and share some e-books with readers anywhere in the world!

Linda Bradley

As Henry David Thoreau said, “Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it comes to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh.” Something in his words resonates with my own beliefs. My road has been bumpy, filled with potholes, and detours that left me wondering about life. I now understand that these moments when I was not in control were crucial to nurturing a dream of sharing my stories with the world. It was not until I experienced those prickly situations that I found my voice and was able to peer in on the world from multiple vantages. This has been the year to reconnect with childhood friends, the kind of friends that knew how to play, get dirty, cherish nature, and laugh through the good times and the bad. This has been the year when everything has fallen into place, thus letting me know that my journey was necessary and purposeful. When I embrace the prickly moments that scrape at my memory, I squeeze them tight, and I am rejuvenated with creativity and strength to move forward. Henry David Thoreau also said, “Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.” With hope, love, courage, and a little stubbornness, my heart feels full because I believe I have finally hooked happiness.

Linda Bradley's inspiration comes from her favorite authors and life itself. Maggie’s Way is her debut novel, in her Montana Bound Series. It is about a woman, Maggie, who is rattled by a seven year-old girl, Chloe, who delivers unexpected surprises wrapped in humor, love, and raw truth. Linda is currently working on Maggie’s Fork in the Road and Maggie’s Montana. Linda has an Associates Degree in Interior Design and a Master’s Degree in Reading and Language Arts with undergraduate work in Elementary Education and Fine Arts. She has two grown sons and lives with her husband and rescue dog in Royal Oak, Michigan.You can follow her at her website, Facebook, and Twitter. 

Linda is sharing TWO e-books of Maggie's Way.

Carol Fragale Brill

Losing my hair during chemotherapy treatments was one of the many challenges of having cancer. I wept daily as tufts of my hair circled the drain in the shower. Being seen without hair seemed unfathomable—until the day I had this conversation with my husband, Jim.

Me to Jim: Will my bald head bother you if I sit around with it uncovered when we're home?

Jim: Does my bald head bother you?

A couple of hours later, peeking around the corner of our living room:

Me: Okay, here I come with my bald head.

Jim: You look cute!

Any wonder why I love, love, love this guy?

Always top of Carol Fragale Brill's gratitude list is her husband Jim, their marriage, and living in Cape May. Writing fiction lets her creativity come out to play. Carol's fiction has received recognition from Poets and Writers and was a reader's favorite for The Best of Philadelphia Stories. She is the author of two novels. Cape Maybe is about the secrets that haunt mothers and daughters and the power of hard-earned hope. Peace by Piece (reviewed here) is about love in all its many forms, especially between a reserved single woman and a lonely little girl. She earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Carol is also a reviewer for New York Journal of Books. Visit Carol at her blog, Facebook, and Twitter. 

Carol is sharing e-books of both Cape Maybe and Peace by Piece (one of each). US winners have a print option available, as well.

T.S. Krupa

You never know when you will affect someone and many times we do so without even knowing it. Most recently my family went on vacation and we had a friend stay at our home and watch our dog. When we got back from vacation the house was clean, the dog was happy and she had baked us chocolate chip cookies to thank us for letting her stay in our home. It really made me stop and pause. I didn’t know what was going on in her everyday life or how she felt. I thought she was doing me a favor and in reality she felt I was doing her a favor. These acts of gratitude are hidden in our everyday lives without us even knowing it. It could be paying for the coffee of the person behind you, holding a door open for someone or simply saying, ‘thank you’. We don’t know how a person’s day, week, month or year is going and sometimes we leave impactful moments on other people without realizing it and it can be these moments that leave the most lasting impression.

T.S. Krupa was born in New Haven, Connecticut. Raised in a Polish household with a blended American culture, she is fluent in Polish. She graduated with her bachelor’s degree from Franklin Pierce University,where she also played field hockey. She earned her Master’s from Texas Tech University and recently graduated with her Doctor of Education from North Carolina State University. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and her dog. In 2014, T.S. Krupa published her award-winning debut novel Safe & Sound, which follows  the yearlong journey of love, loss, friendship, and conquering the unexpected. On The Edge is her second novel and is about a chance encounter that leads to a passionate and unexpected romance that could change everything. Visit T.S. at her website, Facebook, and Twitter. 

T.S. is sharing e-books of both Safe and Sound and On the Edge (one of each). US winners have a print option available, as well.

Thanks to everyone for sharing their heartwarming stories and books with our readers!

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here.

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Open worldwide (US readers have paperback options when available). 
Giveaway ends July 14th at midnight EST. 

Spotlight and Giveaway: The Woman Who Stole My Life

Melissa Amster: Marian Keyes is one of the reasons I started Chick Lit Central. Melissa P and I bonded over her books when we re-connected on Facebook back in 2009. Then I won one of her books from Novel Escapes in 2010. Wanting a community with which I could discuss chick lit and wanting to be able to share amazing novels like Marian's with other readers brought about the Facebook group and then this blog. Marian's writing never fails to amaze me and I love the characters and story lines she creates. When she favorites or replies to my tweets, it's better than getting such a response from a famous celebrity.

Melissa Patafio: I love Marian Keyes because she has such lively and witty characters. Her stories always have at least one silly, off-the-wall character that I just adore. My favorite of all time is Helen Walsh. She's hilarious! I also like how many of her characters from other books reappear from time to time. It keeps me feeling connected to them.

Today, we're pleased to present Marian Keyes' latest novel, The Woman Who Stole My Life, a hilarious story about an Irish beautician and her unorthodox path to love and fame. Thanks to Viking, we have FIVE copies for some lucky US readers!

The facts:

Name: Stella Sweeney.

Age: forty-one and a quarter.

Height: average.

Recent life events: dramatic.

One day, sitting in traffic, married Dublin mom Stella Sweeney attempts a good deed. The resulting car crash changes her life.

She meets a man who wants her telephone number (for the insurance, it turns out). That's okay. She doesn't really like him much anyway (his Range Rover totally destroyed her car).

But in this meeting is born the seed of something that will take Stella thousands of miles from her old life and whisk her away to New York, turning an ordinary woman into a superstar, and, along the way, wrenching her family apart.

Is this all because of one ill-advised act of goodwill? Was meeting Mr. Range Rover destiny or karma? Should she be grateful or hopping mad?

For the first time, real, honest-to-goodness happiness is just within her reach. But is Stella Sweeney, Dublin housewife, ready to grasp it?

Marian's stunning new novel, The Woman Who Stole My Life, is about losing the life you had and finding a better one.

Marian Keyes is the internationally bestselling author of more than ten novels and two autobiographical works. Several of her novels have been adapted for British television and film. She was born in Limerick in 1963, and brought up in Cavan, Cork, Glaway, and Dublin. She now lives in Dun Laoghaire with her husband, Tony.

Visit Marian at her website, Facebook, and  Twitter.

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here.

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US only. Giveaway ends July 13th at midnight EST.

Kamy Wicoff finds her happy ending

Introduction by Melissa Amster

Kamy Wicoff and I have something in common. We've both created forums for women writers. While mine is a blog that features novels mainly written by women, hers is a publishing company that has made a huge impact in the span of three years. As you may already know, I loved her debut novel, Wishful Thinking (reviewed here), and even included it on a list of favorite time travel novels. I was also fortunate enough to meet her at Book Expo America this past May, and she even found a way to be in two places at once in order to make that happen. We hung out in the booth of the publishing company she created, She Writes Press.

This month at Chick Lit Central, our theme is "Chick Lit Soup for the Soul," and authors will be sharing heartwarming stories or talking about the good things in life. Today, sit back with a nice cup of your favorite beverage and indulge in Kamy's beautiful story.

You can find Kamy at her website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

How Writing My Novel Helped Me Create My Own Happy Ending

When people ask me how I came up with the idea for She Writes, the social network for women writers I founded with my friend and fellow author Deborah Siegel, the answer is simple: I created the thing I needed. Debbie and I were both confounded by the enormous changes taking place in publishing, struggling to figure out how to navigate the new world of online and social media, facing the new obligation writers had to be the chief promoters of their work. I needed a network of women writers not only to help me figure out how to become an “authorpreneur,” but also to encourage me on days I felt down and out, just plain overwhelmed by it all. For six years, the women of She Writes, now 26,000 strong, have provided me with inspiration, knowledge and sisterly support I can’t imagine living without.

When people ask me how I came up with the idea for She Writes Press, the publishing company I founded with former Executive Editor of Seal Press Brooke Warner three years ago, the answer is also simple: we created the thing we needed. Brooke was frustrated with changes in traditional publishing that were forcing her to reject books she loved just because the author in question didn’t have enough Twitter followers. I was frustrated by the idea that when I eventually finished my novel, then just a few months underway, I knew that if I published traditionally, as I had with my first book, I would do most of the work to promote the book while still getting only a tiny percentage of the sales. Together we created a third-way publisher that combines the best of traditional and self-publishing, and in just three years we have published more than eighty books by women that I couldn’t be more proud to have been a small part of bringing into the world.

When people ask me how I came up with the idea for my new novel, Wishful Thinking, the answer is simple, once again: I created the book I wanted to read. The inspiration came one night when I was reading the Harry Potter books with my older son Max. I crawled into bed beside him, excited to see what happened next and delighting in the warm, wizardy world J.K. Rowling had created, when I thought, I wish there were a book like this not about a ten-year-old boy, but about a woman like me, a divorced mother of two struggling to balance her roles as mom and career-woman, too. What power would I give her? I wondered. The power to be in more than one place at a time, obviously! And so I did. For the next two years, I wrote the book I wanted to read, and it was pure delight.

When people ask me how I came up with the character of Owen, the man my main character, Jennifer Sharpe, eventually falls in love with, that answer is simple too: I created the man I wanted to fall in love with.

You will probably not be surprised to learn that this did not make my Prince Charming magically appear. I’m good, but I’m not that good. But writing Wishful Thinking did lead me to love, in a way I never could have imagined.

When I started writing the book I’d been single for four years, and had had some pretty damaging dating experiences. This might have been because I was convinced, after experiencing the excruciating dissolution of my marriage, that I would never remarry. For one, I felt I could never endure the pain of divorce again, and unless somebody could hand me a crystal ball and a written-in-blood guarantee that the relationship I was in would never end, I couldn’t possibly expose myself that pain, not to mention my kids. And then there was the fact that every guy I’d dated so far had not come close to convincing me the risk I was so terrified to take was worth it.

The problem was, if I believed this, how, in writing Wishful Thinking, could I give my heroine, Jennifer, also a divorced mother of two, the happy ending she deserved, and that I secretly hoped (though I couldn’t admit it to myself), I could have too? How could Jennifer open herself up to love after going through divorce? How could she take the risk of her children falling for a new man that might not stick around?

In writing Wishful Thinking, I created the thing I needed once again. Not a man, but a path to healing. As I wrote, I treated Jennifer like someone I loved, like a friend I wanted to see happy. Determined to give her hope for love in her life, I wrote my way through her fears, and by doing so, through my own. Without risk, I realized as I told Jennifer’s story, there can’t be love. Without love, what is life about?

When I started writing Wishful Thinking I was single. When I finished it, the man I love, and hope to love forever, though I know there are no guarantees (which still scares the s*** out of me), was sitting across from me, holding my hand. No, I couldn’t create Prince Charming by writing about him. But in writing this book, I did, as I have so many times in my life, create the thing I needed. I opened Jennifer’s heart to love again, and I opened my heart in the process, too.

Thanks to Kamy for chatting with us and to BookSparks PR for connecting us.

Book Review and Giveaway: Those Secrets We Keep

By Amy Bromberg

On the surface, Sloane has the perfect life—an adoring husband, a precocious daughter, and enough financial security to be a stay-at-home mom. Still, she can’t help but feel as though something—or someone—is missing....

Hillary has a successful career and a solid marriage. The only problem is her inability to conceive. And there’s a very specific reason why....

As the wild-child daughter of old family money, Georgina has never had to accept responsibility for anything. So when she realizes an unexpected life change could tie her down forever, she does exactly what she’s always done: escape.

When these three women unite for a three-week-long summer vacation in beautiful Lake George, New York, even with the idyllic location as their backdrop, the tensions begin to mount. And they quickly discover that no secret can be kept forever.... (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

It’s unfortunate that in today’s age many women keep things they are struggling with a secret. The longer we keep secrets, the more likely they will fester inside, and secrets always have a way of coming out. Perhaps it’s because women are ashamed of them? Or don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings? Either way, they only hurt themselves in the long run. Each of the three main characters--Georgina, Sloane and Hillary--has a secret. These secrets are what shapes and defines each of their personalities.

I liked how one of their story lines didn’t end wrapped up in a beautiful bow. It made it realistic in this manner.

Those Secrets We Keep is a story about friendships, how precious they can be, and how if we don’t nurture them, they can be lost in an instant. A quick-paced, perfect beach read.

Thanks to Goldberg McDuffie for the book in exchange for an honest review. They have TWO copies of Those Secrets We Keep, along with two sets of Your Summer Secret Beauty Set from IT Cosmetics to give away to readers in the US and/or Canada!

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here.

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US/Canada only. Giveaway ends July 12th at midnight EST.

More by Emily Liebert:

Book Review: Cocktails at Le Carmen

By Becky Gulc

‘When job cuts at Chloe Saddler's London communications firm result in an unexpected transfer to Paris, she finds herself leaving behind her friends, family, and boyfriend Scott to start a new life in the City of Light. Getting to grips with La Vie Parisienne and keeping a long-distance relationship afloat is not made any easier by the culture shock. Committing the odd French faux pas and inadvertently indulging in a few too many flirtations with her very sexy (and very taken) boss, Jean-Luc, is just the start of it. Factor in her bridezilla of a sister's wedding (the hottest event of the year in the Saddler family's social calendar), an unexpected session of hot, naked yoga, a slightly psychotic stalker, and one incredible kiss at an infamous Montmartre nightspot, and Chloe can say au revoir to her old, safe London life and bonjour to the romance, splendour, and glamour of Paris’ (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

Cocktails at Le Carmen is a book I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish. I suppose the older I get the fewer books I seem to read where the lead characters are in their twenties like Chloe is, yet again there is a slight fear I will no longer find this relatable, but yet again I just found it completely refreshing, and yes it probably did transport me back to those early days I started to read ‘Chick Lit.’

Chloe is a great character. She’s a good friend, a loyal girlfriend, quirky and very pragmatic. When it’s a case of losing her job completely or going to work in Paris for a year she’s there, even if it does pull at her heart strings to leave behind her boyfriend; but they’re solid, and it’s only a year isn’t it? I just loved the setting in Paris, as Chloe learned to speak French. This isn’t a completely alien setting for her and I think that makes you as the reader a little more relaxed with the setting too, although there are some funny moments she seems to fit in pretty quickly to Parisian life.

I enjoyed the scenes in Paris more so than the scenes with Chloe’s family in the UK, particularly the ones surrounding her (not very likable) sister’s wedding preparations; sometimes these felt a bit shoehorned in for me, I wanted to get back to hearing about other things, like her nights out with Rosie and her flirtations with Jean-Luc. Some things towards the end of the novel seemed to just happen with little foundation, even if I liked this progression anyway. There is also a great character in the novel (the slightly psychotic stalker) where I thought there was more room for development, some scenes made me feel this was going to go further than it did and so I felt a little disappointed by some of her scenes towards the end of the novel.

I thoroughly enjoyed Isabelle’s style of writing, it just flowed and had the funny moments and self-deprecating humour I enjoy. This was a great light read that pleasantly surprised me and I’d love to catch up with Chloe and her friends again.

Thanks to Simon and Fig for the book in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review and Giveaway: The Lives Between Us

By Jami Deise

Writing about politics is supposed to be the kiss of death for authors. Apparently readers just aren’t that interested and these books won’t sell. I don’t know who made up that rule and I don’t agree. Stories sell books, and politics shapes stories. In women’s fiction especially, politics is personal. When politicians want to have a say about the most basic decisions people make in their lives, it creates drama and conflict – the back bone of story telling.

Author Theresa Rizzo has followed up her “conception after death” novel, Just Destiny, with another gripping read mixing the personal and political. In Just Destiny, Jenny Harrison fights a court battle with an in-law for the right to inseminate herself with her dead husband’s sperm. The Lives Between Us (in which Jenny appears in a minor role) is also concerned with the products of conception. In this case, though, it’s the moral and religious question of whether embryos should be used for medical research and treatment – specifically, the embryotic stem cells that some scientists believe can help a broken body heal itself.

Reporter Skylar (Skye) Kendall has a nine-year-old niece, Niki, whom she adores. Niki is in the hospital with a failing heart, and Skye and her parents believe that stem cell treatment will cure the girl … if only they can find a match. But stem cell donations are not catalogued, and research on them is being stymied by politicians like Senator Edward Hastings, who is morally opposed to anything that might lead to the destruction of an embryo. Faith, Niki’s mother, almost died of pre-eclampsia when pregnant with Niki. She and her husband Peter tell Skye they have a plan to save their daughter. But six months later, Niki is dead of a heart attack. Faith is pregnant with twins, a pregnancy that could kill her, and Skye blames Senator Hastings for her family’s pain. She shows up at his televised press conference and attacks him for his stand against research: “Don’t you think it’s unfair to force your personal religious beliefs on the rest of us?”

Not only does Skye put her job in jeopardy, her appearance at the press conference piques the curiosity of Edward’s best friend, Mark Dutton, who just so happens to be in the stem cell business. Mark and Skye have a coincidental meeting, and he’s immediately drawn to her. They begin dating, and Mark is stuck with the dilemma of when to tell Skye that the man she hates is his best friend.

The Lives Between Us is a hugely ambitious project, and an appropriate follow up to Just Destiny. It’s clear that author Rizzo has done an enormous amount of research on the issues driving her story. And her characters are all very well-versed in the political and medical aspects as well. In fact, they were all too well-informed; she was missing the naïve character who could stand in for the reader and let the writer directly explain, for example, the benefits of cord blood or the differences between adult and embryotic stem cells. I’m interested in scientific research and try to stay current on these issues, but I’m a lay person and I did get lost several times.

More broadly, though, the biggest problem I had with "Lives" was its structure. (I also found structural issues with Just Destiny.) By killing Niki off so early, Rizzo denies herself the most obvious plot for the book – a race against time to convince (or blackmail) the one Senator who is keeping a dying girl from getting the experimental medical treatment she needs. And without a bill in the Senate, Skye doesn’t have a specific goal in dealing with Hastings – just a vendetta. It doesn’t give away too much to reveal that Skye learns of Mark and Edward’s friendship early on in the book, so that dilemma is resolved relatively quickly.

Rizzo extends her story by incorporating many other points of view in addition to Skye’s. As a result, Edward’s story dominates the book far more than Skye’s does. And Rizzo goes to Herculean lengths to justify Edward’s stance by revealing tragic back story after tragic back story. An ironic plot twist should force Edward to question his beliefs, but Rizzo avoids that by turning the last section of the book into a thriller and keeping decisions and actions out of Edward’s hands.

Even with its flaws, the book is a page-turner (or, in my case, a Kindle-tapper.). While the plot twists don’t organically follow from the story’s original concept, they are good twists and keep the story centered around the topic of stem cells, if not focused on the protagonist’s goal.

With her use of multiple protagonists, Rizzo creates characters who have strong reasons for their personal beliefs. In doing so, however, she avoids Edward having to search his soul to answer Skye’s question from the beginning of the book: “Don’t you think it’s unfair to force your personal religious beliefs on the rest of us?”

That’s the question at the heart of personal versus political. And it can’t be answered, because one side’s “personal religious beliefs” is the other side’s “truth.” I expect Rizzo will continue to explore these issues in her upcoming books, and I look forward to reading more of them.

Thanks to Theresa Rizzo for the book in exchange for an honest review. She has one e-book of The Lives Between Us for a lucky reader anywhere in the world!

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here.

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Worldwide. Giveaway ends July 7th at midnight EST.