Beach Book Giveaway!

The official first day of summer is almost here and we have some books to get you in the mood!

Without any further ado, we present...

BEACH HOUSE FOR RENT by Mary Alice Monroe
Thanks to Gallery Books, we have one copy to give away!

BEACH HOUSE FOR RENT is the story of two strangers and the power of the places we call home. 

Cara Rutledge, 50, and Heather Wyatt, 26, are at two very different stages of their lives. Cara rents her quaint beach house on Isle of Palms to Heather for the summer to paint birds for postage stamps. Yet Heather’s anxiety keeps her indoors with her caged canaries. Once at the beach the shore birds – and a man who rescues them – lure Heather outside. As the summer progresses and Heather’s confidence begins to blossom, Cara’s life reels with sudden tragedy. Cara wants only to return home to her beach house where she’d felt safe – but Heather refuses to budge from her sanctuary. Can the two women come together to help each other and share the healing power of the beach house?

Like the migrating shorebirds that come to the island for the summer, two women of different generations rediscover their common bonds, strengths, and how much they truly have to live for – so at summer’s end they, too, can take flight.

Photo by Mic Smith

Mary Alice Monroe is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of 20 novels, including: A Lowcountry Wedding; A Lowcountry Christmas; The Summer’s End; Summer Wind; The Summer Girls; Last Light Over Carolina; Time is a River; The Beach House; and Beach House Memories. She has received numerous awards, including the Award for Writing from the South Carolina Center for the Book, the RT Lifetime Achievement, and Florida Author of Distinction Award. Monroe is an active conservationist and lives in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. Visit Mary Alice at her website, Facebook, and Twitter.

THE BEACH AT PAINTER'S COVE by Shelley Noble
Thanks to HarperCollins, we have one copy to give away!

THE BEACH AT PAINTER’S COVE tells the story of the Whitaker family’s Connecticut mansion, Muses by the Sea. The extravagant home has always been a haven for artists, a hotbed of creativity and the occasional scandal. Art patrons for generations, the Whitakers supported strangers and their artistic pursuits while slowly draining the life from each other. Now, after being estranged for years, four generations of Whitaker women find themselves once again at The Muses.

Noble’s ability to create vibrant and engaging characters is on full display in this novel. There is Leo, the Whitaker matriarch, living amidst art and junk in the mansion she can’t let go of in her old age; Fae, Leo’s sister-in-law and the town eccentric who has taken great pains to keep a secret buried in her past; Leo’s daughter Jillian, the jet-sitting actress who has run out of money and men to support her; Jillian’s daughter Issy, a successful museum exhibit designer who travels the world but remains loyal to her family; and Issy’s niece, 12-year-old Steph, who desperately needs to come out of her shell and just might after her discoveries at the Muses.

As Issy marshals the family together to restore the mansion and catalogue the massive art collection, a surprising thing happens. Despite storms and moonlight dancing, diva attacks and cat fights, trips to the beach and flights of fancy, these four generations of erratic, dramatic women may just find a way to save the Muses and reunite their family.

Photo by Gary Brown

Shelley Noble is a former professional dancer and choreographer. She most recently worked on the films, Mona Lisa Smile and The Game Plan. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Women’s Fiction Writers Association, and Liberty States Fiction Writers. Visit Shelley at her website, Facebook, and Twitter.




SECRETS IN SUMMER by Nancy Thayer
Thanks to Random House, we have one copy to give away!

Memorial Day weekend means that seasonal visitors have descended on the glamorous island of Nantucket. For year-round resident Darcy Cotterill, it means late-night stargazing in the backyard of the beautiful house she grew up in and inherited from her beloved grandmother. It’s also Darcy’s chance to hit the beach and meet her new summertime neighbors. But the last person the thirty-year-old librarian expects to see staying next door is her ex-husband, Boyz, along with his wife, Autumn, and stepdaughter, Willow.

Darcy must also navigate the highs and lows of a new romantic relationship with local carpenter Nash Forester even as she becomes smitten with handsome vacationer Clive Rush, a musicologist in town to write a book and visit family. And she finds herself pulled into the concerns of Boyz, Autumn, a charming elderly neighbor, and an at-risk teen.

As the season nears its end, Darcy must decide her next move: retreating to the comforts of her steady and secure island life, or risking it all for a chance at true happiness.

Photo by Katie Kaizer

Nancy Thayer is the author of twenty-three novels, including Summer House, The Hot Flash Club, Beachcombers, Heat Wave, Summer Breeze, and Island Girls. Nancy has a B.A. and M.A. in English literature from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. She was a Fellow at the Breadloaf Writers’ Conference. She has lived on Nantucket Island year-round for twenty-eight years with her husband Charley Walters. Her daughter is the novelist Samantha Wilde. Visit Nancy 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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Giveaway ends June 26th at midnight EST.

Spotlight and Giveaway: Mary Kay Andrews' Beach House Cookbook

Just in time for summer, we are featuring The Beach House Cookbook by Mary Kay Andrews. Don't read this on an empty stomach, or you may be tempted to cook everything at once! 

Thanks to Tandem Literary, we have one copy to give away!

Perennial New York Times bestselling novelist Mary Kay Andrews brings to your kitchen a cookbook full of her favorite recipes. Presented with the breezy air that have made Mary Kay Andrews’ novels a summertime favorite, THE BEACH HOUSE COOKBOOK is sure to find a place at your kitchen table. From an early spring dinner of cherry balsamic pork medallions and bacon-kissed green beans, to Fourth of July buttermilk-brined fried chicken, to her New Year’s Day Open House menu of charcoal-grilled oysters, home-cured gravlax, grits n’ greens casserole, and lemon cream cheese pound cake, this cookbook will supply ideas for menus and recipes designed to put you in a permanently carefree coastal state of mind all year long.

Mary Kay Andrews is the New York Times bestselling author of 24 novels, including The Weekenders, Beach Town, Save the Date, Ladies' Night, Spring Fever, Summer Rental, The Fixer Upper, Deep Dish, Blue Christmas, Savannah Breeze, Hissy Fit, Little Bitty Lies, and Savannah Blues. A former features writer for The Atlanta Journal Constitution, she finds an outlet for her passion for cooking, entertaining, and decorating with vintage finds at the homes she shares in Atlanta and Tybee Island, Georgia, with her husband, Tom, and their two grown children, Katie and Andy, as well as grandchildren Molly and Griffin. THE BEACH HOUSE COOKBOOK is her first cookbook.

Visit Mary Kay online:
Website * Facebook * Instagram * 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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Giveaway ends June 25th at midnight EST.

Spotlight: One Last First Date

Title: One Last First Date
Series: Cozy Cottage Cafe Series
Author: Kate O’Keeffe
Release Date: June 1st, 2017
Tour Dates: June 11th – 16th, 2017
Genre: Chick Lit



Cassie Dunhill is sick of dating. It’s been ten years and it’s time, time to find The One. It’s either that or buy a fetching habit and veil and abandon the whole thing. But Cassie believes in love, and she’s not ready to give up yet.

Cassie and her best friends make a pact that the next date they go on will be their One Last First Date. The pressure is on to find Mr. Right, and Cassie’s the first to find him: Parker Hamilton. He’s good-looking, smart, cultured—and a doctor. Despite his obvious credentials, Cassie’s not taking any chances. She’s vetted Parker so thoroughly she could offer some pointers to the CIA. He passes with flying colors.

Things get complicated when Will Jordan, her irritating work colleague, muscles in on her dream job and her love life. Will is a typical guy, complete with nicknames for everyone, even Cassie. His good looks and relaxed and easy nature can be distracting. But Cassie can do without that kind of distraction right now, no matter how good Will looks with his shirt off.

In the end, is there only One Last First Date?

Order your copy!

AmazonUS | AmazonUK | AmazonAU | AmazonCA

Spotlight and Giveaway: Good Karma

We're pleased to feature Christina Kelly's debut novel, Good Karma, today at CLC. Thanks to HarperCollins, we have FIVE copies to give away!

After almost forty years in New Jersey, Catherine, Ralph, and their beloved Boston Terrier Karma are hitting the road, relocating to a gorgeous, serene island off the coast of Savannah where Catherine can work on her backhand and Ralph can hit the links daily. Upon their arrival in the Seven Oaks gated community, though, it becomes apparent that Catherine and Ralph’s visions of retirement couldn’t be more different. As the pair drifts further apart and she senses that their marriage at risk, Catherine meets recent widower Fred at the dog park. United by their dogs, they embark upon a friendship that could be something more—until she discovers that he’s not quite what he seems. As she sorts out fact from fiction and sees what sorts of secrets might be hiding behind Seven Oaks’ picket fences, she’ll have to make a decision affecting her future happiness and her chance at new love.


“Christina Kelly’s charming debut novel examines the heart of a long-married woman who, uprooted from the familiar, finds herself foundering, but finally flourishing in her new Savannah home, with a well-deserved second chance at love.”

— Mary Kay Andrews, New York Times bestselling author of The Weekenders and Beach Town

“Good Karma is a fast-paced, funny, great good fortune of a novel that has it all: a love story, a mystery, eccentrics, adorable dogs, and even an alligator. Christina Kelly has a talent for touching our hearts even as she has us falling off the sofa with laughter.”

— Nancy Thayer, New York Times bestselling author of Secrets in Summer

Christina Kelly is a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop and an occasional contributor to the New York Times crossword section. A native of New York, she now lives with her husband in Savannah. Visit Christina on 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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Giveaway ends June 20th at midnight EST.

Book Review and Giveaway: The One That Got Away

By Jami Deise


Except for the very few who married their childhood sweethearts, nearly every human has “one who got away.” You know the one… the guy or gal you would have married, if you hadn’t been too young/too broke/too stupid. These folks used to disappear into the universe, remaining forever young and perfect in our minds, until Facebook came along and let everyone know exactly what happened to that one who got away. Some folks reunited with these found-again lovers; others breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Thank God I dodged that bullet!”

In Leigh Himes’s debut novel, The One That Got Away, her protagonist Abbey is not pining for a lost love. In fact, after she turned down a date with Philadelphia scion Alex van Holt years ago, she never saw him again. She isn’t pining at all; she’s stuck – stuck in a life that’s familiar to many of us – a career that doesn’t pay enough, two kids, and a husband who doesn’t work enough in or out of the house. That husband, Jimmy, is livid when he discovers that Abbey has spent $600 on a Marc Jacobs purse. He demands that she return it to Nordstrom’s right away. At the store, she slips over the escalator railing, crashes into the piano, and hits the floor. When she wakes up, she’s in a completely different life. And it’s a life in which $600 purses are no problem at all.

Because Alex was not the once great love of Abbey’s life, the story doesn’t unfold in a Sliding Doors type of way that the book has been compared to. Rather, it’s more like a hybrid of the movies 13 Going on 30 and the Nicolas Cage/Téa Leoni vehicle The Family Man. Both these movies fall in the wish-fulfillment category – more specifically, “be careful what you wish for; you might get it!” Tired of worrying about money, Abbey briefly wonders what life would be like if she’d gone on that date with Alex. When she wakes up married to him, it’s more 13 Going on 30 than The Family Man because she doesn’t know Alex – or his cutthroat family – at all. Nicholas Cage at least had a real relationship with Téa Leoni before he threw her over for that London job. Abbey has nothing to go on.

Just like Jenna in 13 Going on 30, Abbey finds that her best friend now hates her, but she’s now friends with the mean girls who once spurned her. She has the Pilates body, a closet full of designer clothes, a fulltime nanny, and she even got to keep the kids. True, Gloria and Sam are now spoiled brats with slightly different hair colors, but they are still recognizably the same children she had in her other timeline. She even has a parent away on a cruise. (“You guys went on a cruise and you didn’t take me!” Yes, Jenna Rink is one of my all-time favorite movie characters.)

What Abbey doesn’t have – which is vital to the “be careful what you wish for” genre – is a lesson she needs to learn. Jenna had ditched her best friend for the mean girls; Nicholas Cage had ditched the love of his life for money. A huge character flaw is necessary for these stories to work, as the protagonist must go on a journey to learn that the life they disparaged is the best one for them. (“There’s no place like home,” anyone?) Instead, Abbey is every woman, stressed out and unappreciated, and her off-screen purchase of the Marc Jacobs bag seems out-of-character. It’s rare to argue that a protagonist in humorous women’s fiction is too likeable, but in Abbey’s case, that may be true.

Frankly, the person who does need to learn a lesson is Jimmy. Underemployed as his landscaping business is about to fold, he’s more than happy to watch his wife run herself ragged at work and taking care of the kids while he watches TV.

As Abbey Van Holt, Abbey awakens as a rich, pampered wife of a man at the tail end of a tough Congressional campaign. Although her mother-in-law rules the roost, Abbey has a good life and a husband who seems to genuinely love her. Rather than searching tirelessly through Philadelphia to find a psychic or Madame Zoltar or anyone who can help her get back to her old life, Abbey gets caught up in Alex’s campaign and the other details of her new life. As the book progresses, it’s hard for the reader to root for Abbey to get her old life back. If Himes wanted to make the case that it’s better to be struggling with a man you (mostly) love than to be rich with a hot man you barely know, she didn’t persuade me. And at nearly 400 pages, it’s much longer than it needs to be.

Despite these flaws, The One that Got Away is a book that will resonate with anyone who loved 13 Going on 30 as much as I did. (I REALLY love that movie, though, so that bar’s pretty high.) I’d also recommend it if you enjoy any or all of the myriad body-switching stories out there, or Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Maybe in Another Life or One True Loves, or you’re a fan of the Bravo series Odd Mom Out.

The One that Got Away explores a common plot, but it’s one I don’t think will ever grow old. As long as we have choices, we’ll always wonder about the roads – or people – not taken. Until science invents a “parallel universe” machine, we’ll have to rely on fiction – or Facebook – to answer those questions.

Thanks to TLC Book Tours for the book in exchange for an honest review. They have one copy for a lucky reader! Visit the other stops on Leigh's tour for more chances to win.

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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Giveaway ends June 19th at midnight EST.

Mary Simses plays by the rules...plus a book giveaway

Introduction and interview by Tracey Meyers

I always find it interesting when I meet a writer who either is or was an attorney. It’s not that I think attorneys aren’t interested in writing, but more that legal writing is so vastly different from other styles of writing. Today, we talk with Mary Simses, an author who, while working as a corporate attorney, enrolled in a fiction writing class at Fairfield University in Connecticut. The result was having several of her short stories published in literary magazines AND two novels published, including her newest one, The Rules of Love & Grammar (now in trade paperback). Mary grew up in Darien, Connecticut. She now lives in South Florida with her husband and daughter. Visit Mary at her website, Facebook, and Twitter.

Thanks to Graff Media, we have FIVE copies of The Rules of Love & Grammar to give away!

Synopsis:
Newly jobless, newly single, and suddenly apartmentless, writer Grace Hammond has come unmoored. A grammar whiz who's brilliant at correcting other people's errors, she hasn't yet found quite the right set of rules for fixing her own mistakes.

Desperate to escape the city and her trifecta of problems, Grace hits pause and retreats to her Connecticut hometown. What begins as a short visit with her parents quickly becomes a far more meaningful stay, though, as she discovers that the answers to what her future holds might be found by making peace with-and even embracing-the past.

As Grace sets out to change her ways and come to terms, finally, with the tragedy that took her older sister's life so many years ago, she rekindles a romance with her high school sweetheart, Peter, now a famous Hollywood director who's filming a movie in town. Sparks also fly at the local bike shop, where Grace's penchant for pointing out what's wrong rattles the owner's ruggedly handsome schoolteacher son, Mitch.

Torn between the promise of a glamorous life and the allure of the familiar, Grace must decide what truly matters-and whether it's time for her to throw away the rule book and bravely follow her heart. (Courtesy of Amazon.)

Who has had the greatest influence on your writing?
My long-time friend, mentor, and fellow author, Jamie Cat Callan. Jamie taught an evening fiction writing course I took at Fairfield University in Connecticut, back in the early nineties. I was working as a corporate attorney at the time and I signed up for the class because I wanted to get back into creative writing after a long hiatus. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made. We became good friends and it was Jamie who, years later, pushed me to write my first novel. She is the first reader and editor of anything I write. She has great insight into storytelling and character development.

Which of your characters is your favorite and why?
Yikes. I’ve heard other writers say that choosing their favorite character or book is like choosing their favorite child. Fortunately, I only have one child, so that’s easy. But character? Even with only two-and-a-half books under my belt (I’m currently halfway through the draft of a third), it’s a tough question. But I guess I’d have to say Grace Hammond, the protagonist in The Rules of Love & Grammar. There’s poignancy and fragility to Grace that I love, but she’s also tough when she needs to be. Plus, she has a goofy side that gets her into trouble, and I love that as well.

On your website you mention that your daughter is quite a writer herself. What advice would you give her if she wanted to pursue a career in writing?
I’d tell her first and foremost to be an observer of life – watch what people do, listen to what they say, look at what’s around you. There are a million stories happening every minute. You just need to slow down to discover them. In terms of more specific career advice, as in “how to you become an author?” that’s a hard one for me to answer, because I came at it in a roundabout way, having first worked in magazine publishing and then as a corporate lawyer. My becoming an author grew out of writing “on the side” for many years. So I guess my other piece of advice to her would be to be patient and keep at it, even if it means working at something else or doing some other kind of writing as a “day job” to pay the bills. Just keep doing it.

What is your favorite TV show:
I like comedies. I still watch a couple of hours of Seinfeld reruns each week, even though I’ve seen them a million times and know all the lines by heart. I recently discovered Party Down, about a group of actors who work for a catering company in Los Angeles, and I binge-watched that. I can’t believe it aired in 2009-2010 and I just found it. Where was I back then?! Probably writing. Or reading. I also loved Call My Agent, a French “dramedy” about a talent agency in Paris. It only ran for one season, although I read that seasons 2 and 3 will be released. I’m still waiting…

You have the day all to yourself, how do you spend the time?
I have a lot of days to myself, because my husband works at our law firm, and during the school year our daughter is away at college. So I’m home alone quite often (although we do have two cats and they would probably object to my use of the term alone). Some days I write a little, some days I write a lot, some days I don’t write at all because I’ve got a day full of the usual errands that everybody does, like the grocery store and the cleaner’s and returning the shoes that didn’t fit. On days when I write, I usually still go out. I don’t like being in the house all day, so I’ll see friends or take some pictures, or just go for a walk and clear my mind or think through a problem I’m having with the story I’m working on.

Favorite dessert:
It’s hard to name just one. I have a terrible sweet tooth. I do love warm, freshly-baked blueberry muffins. I paid tribute to those in my first novel, The Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop & Café, a story that takes a fast-paced Manhattan attorney to a small town in Maine. The book was adapted as The Irresistible Blueberry Farm for the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Channel. People have told me they get hungry just looking at the cover of the novel, which shows a jar of blueberry preserves.

The other dessert I can’t resist is apple pie the way my late mother made it, which means the apples are tender, not crunchy, and the crust is buttery. When I grew up in Darien, Connecticut, my mom used to make the best pies from the tiny, very tart apples that came from two old apple trees in our back yard. I can still remember the smell of apples and cinnamon in the air when a pie was baking. Apple pies are important in The Rules of Love & Grammar because there’s an orchard in the town where the story takes place and all of the restaurants feature their own version of the pie.

Thanks to Mary for chatting with us and to Graff Media for sharing her book 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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Giveaway ends June 18th at midnight EST.

Book Review: Pieces of Happiness

UK cover

By Becky Gulc

‘I’ve planted my feet on Fijian earth and I intend to stay here until the last sunset . Why don’t you join me? Leave behind everything that didn’t work out!

When recently-widowed Kat writes to her four old school friends, inviting them to live with her on a cocoa plantation in the South Pacific, they swap icy pavements and TV dinners for a tropical breeze and an azure-blue ocean. Leaving behind loneliness, dead-end jobs and marriages that have gone sour, they settle into the Women’s House, surrounded by palms and cocoa trees; and locals with the puzzling habit of exploding into laughter for no discernible reason.

Each of the women has her issues to resolve, and secrets to keep. But together the friends find a new purpose, starting a business making chocolate: bittersweet, succulent pieces of happiness. As they embrace a new culture that views ageing so differently from their own, will they learn to accept and forgive: to discover the value of friendship, and a better way to live?’ (Synopsis courtesy of Penguin UK.)

Isn’t the [UK] cover glorious?  It would stand out for me on a bookshelf and it suits the story perfectly: warm, vibrant, and offering promise and escapism.

The book is about four women in their sixties who are invited to live with their old friend Kat in Fiji, to see out their days together and to care for one another. The invites basically come out of the blue, as this is a group of friends that haven’t been close for many years, but they retain sisterly love for each other regardless – and this is why for various reasons these old friends take Kat up on the invite. Each one is hopeful the move may bring an escape from: home, a money-grabbing son, a seemingly over-protective daughter, a degenerative illness, a philandering partner. Then there’s Kat, recently bereaved but not yet ready to talk about it. Will these old friends be the support she needs?

Whilst I certainly wouldn’t say this book is ‘chick lit’ I enjoyed it thoroughly and found it completely refreshing to read, not least because these were women who were older than ones I’d usually read about; the book is all the richer for it.

US cover

I did feel transported to a place I admit I know practically nothing about, and it was wonderful. The writing is beautiful throughout, every few pages I would think ‘ooh that’s a really good line’ and nothing appeared to be lost in translation. The narrative was strong and I enjoyed how the present and past was often explored within the same chapters without being hard work for the reader; it just worked. I also particularly loved the short, but frequent, chapters featuring the prayers of Kat’s housekeeper Ateca, providing a further native’s perspective on how these women were getting on in Fiji.

With the housekeeper and the five ladies, there are quite a few characters to keep up with, but it never felt an effort or like too many, even though I initially perceived this to be that way. Each one offered something different and were key to the great dynamics of the book.

The story is very much a journey with the new chocolate business being a great opportunity for the women, but not without its challenges.  I loved how these women embraced a new opportunity. It might have sounded idyllic, to get away, up and leave your existing life, but this book features the good and the bad of such a move and I appreciated that.

A wonderful charming book that deserves to be seen on sun loungers this summer!

Thanks to Transworld for the book in exchange for an honest review.

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