Monday, July 30, 2018
Summer wouldn't be summer without the pool... and a romantic read! Whether you enjoy steamy, sweet, comedy or anything else that involves L-O-V-E, we've got a recommendation you'll enjoy!
You'll love sassy Laney Delaney, the charming far-from-perfect heroine of this story that will have you laughing, commiserating and cheering for a happy ever after. (The book was previously titled Frosted Cowboy, named after a drink Laney orders at a bar when she locks eyes with sexy screenwriter Tom.) If you like feel-good books, this one is for you.
Find Another Shot at Love on Amazon.
Books by Robin Bielman always are a delightful escape, making them ideal for your summer reading. In this one, part of the Kisses in the Sand series, Olivia blurts out that she and her best friend Danny are engaged and expecting a baby. But what happens when an agreement between friends starts to look more and more like the real deal?
Find The Best Friend Bargain on Amazon.
A second-chance romance set in steamy L.A. Add a sexy baseball player and a spunky heroine and you've got the elements of a great summer read. When Evan runs into baseball player Jesse a decade after he walked out on her, sparks fly. But a dark family secret threatens to put their second chance in jeopardy...
Find The Whole Man on Amazon.
Inglath Cooper knows how to write stories that touch our hearts. You'll love this one, about Ren and Lizzy discovering each other and rediscovering themselves in beautiful Tuscany. Two people with seemingly nothing in common. One life-changing month.
Find That Month in Tuscany on Amazon.
Friday, July 27, 2018
A beach bag isn't a beach bag without a good romantic comedy inside! And we've got the perfect book for you.
Check out this excerpt from Another Shot at Love by Charlene Ross (previously published as Frosted Cowboy)...
I study the drink menu as if my life depends on it. And I guess in a way it does. It’s time to shake things up. I will not be drinking my usual margarita or cosmo tonight.
“I’ll have a Frosted Cowboy,” I tell the bartender as I look around the bar at this supposed Hollywood hot spot and wonder what the hell I’m doing here. Every woman in the room is wearing some kind of cowboy getup and bright red lipstick à la the newest Katy Perry video featuring her incredibly sexy rodeo-star boyfriend-of-the-week. And the men, sans lipstick, don’t look much different.
“What’s in this thing?” I ask the bartender.
“Can’t be giving away all my secrets.” He winks.
I bet he goes home with a different girl every night. Maybe tonight, it could be me. Oh God, what am I doing here? I’ve never gone home with a guy at a bar in my life. And where is Natalie? She’s late, and I’m already starting to feel a buzz from my new favorite drink. I should have tagged along to her work dinner instead of meeting her here.
I hope I don’t look too stupid in these satin pants and a western shirt. And this ridiculous cowboy hat has already ruined my hair for the night.
“Everybody will be wearing a hat at this place,” Natalie said when we went shopping. “You’ll totally stand out if you’re not.”
I thought standing out was a good thing.
“Don’t you think I’m a little old for this fake cowboy gear?” I asked her when I looked in the dressing room mirror.
“No way!” Natalie said. “You look hot. Thirties are the new twenties.”
Sigh. So here I sit amongst super-hip, ultra-skinny, beautiful people; a thirty-two-year-old Katy Perry wannabe, waiting for my fabulous single friend. If I had known the bar scene was going to be like this, I might have forgiven Kyle. Of course it’s pretty hard to get over walking in on your fiancé and a slutty paralegal from his office in the discovery phase. On the kitchen counter. I couldn’t picture myself chopping vegetables there again. But honestly, spraying the counter with a little bleach and pretending I’d never witnessed him inserting his brief into her filing cabinet might be preferable to hanging out in hipster cowboy bars every Saturday night.
I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror behind the bar. Under this stupid hat, I have mousy brown hair I’ve been disguising as strawberry-blonde for as long as I can remember. My hairdresser has been trying to convince me for years to ditch my just-past-the-shoulders style, but being a creature of habit, I find that if something works, you stick with it.
The lids of my light-green eyes are caked in glittery eye shadow, and for once, my nose, which is small and turns up a bit, isn’t shiny. I rarely wear lipstick even though my full lips are probably my best feature, but tonight they’re glossy and pink.
I’m relatively thin, but I don’t have that great of a figure. Broad shoulders, small boobs, and an ass that could give Kim Kardashian a run for her money. Fortunately, I was blessed with a small waist and flat stomach, a bit of an hourglass shape. A pear-shaped hourglass anyway.
My hot bartender boyfriend slides over another Frosted Cowboy and points toward the end of the bar. “From the guy in the cowboy hat.”
They’re all wearing cowboy hats.
“That guy?” I ask hopefully, pointing to the hottie at the end of the bar. “The one with the light blue shirt with pearl snaps?”
“Nope,” the bartender tells me. “The one with the big Smith & Wesson belt buckle standing next to him.”
I look down the bar to spot my benefactor. Ugh. It figures.
He strolls over to me. “Looked like you needed a fresh drink,” he says.
“Thanks, but I was getting ready to leave.”
“But I saw you walk in,” he says. “You just got here.”
Oh great, a stalker.
“My friend’s late. I’m not into hanging out alone until she gets here.”
As soon as the words leave my mouth I realize my rookie mistake.
“Why don’t you hang out with us until she gets here?”
Mr. Pearl Snaps smiles and raises his glass.
Well, well, well. Maybe I will stay. But I need to figure out a way to lose Mr. Smith & Wesson. Pretty tricky considering I’ve been out of the game for seven years, but I’m always up for a challenge.
“Thanks,” I say, picking up my Frosted Cowboy. “Why not?”
“Hi,” I say to Mr. Pearl Snaps.
“Hi yourself,” he shoots back. Wow! This guy is even better looking up close. He looks exactly like Chris Pine. Except with darker hair and brown eyes. “I’m Tom, and I see you’ve already met Bill. What’s your name?”
I shake my head and realize I’m staring. “Sorry. For a minute you kind of looked like someone else.”
“I know. I look just like Chris Pine but with brown eyes. I get that all the time.”
Did he say, I look just like Chris Pine?! Ha! What an ego! Is this what single guys are like these days?
“That’s quite a coincidence,” I say. “People are always telling me I look just like that chick who was on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition this year. We both have green eyes, and we are both women. Of course I’m not an emaciated lollipop with a boob job, and we have different color hair, but other than that…”
“Touché,” Tom says to me, tipping his hat.
“Zing. She got you there, buddy,” Bill says. “I’m gonna like hanging out with you.”
“I haven’t decided if you guys get to or not.”
Tom looks at me with those deep brown eyes and says, “You’re feisty. I like that.”
Oh my God. Tom may have quite the ego, but he is so sexy. Feisty. No one has ever called me feisty before. I was just trying to be funny. I don’t know if I can keep all this feistiness up.
Find Another Shot at Love on Amazon.
Thursday, July 26, 2018
What are you reading this summer? We love books that transport us to one of our favorite places: France. Paris, of course, as well as all of the other lovely spots around the country.
Here are our favorites, from Velvet Morning Press and beyond!
If you don't have enough time between trips to the pool for a long, intense read, you'll love these short stories, all set in the City of Light. From culinary treats (and catastrophes) to swoon-worthy romantic encounters (and heartbreaking mishaps), this anthology takes you on a journey through one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
Find That's Paris on Amazon.
Winner of the 2015 Confidentielles Romantic Comedy prize! Chloe is the perfect Parisian: She's too skinny and smokes and drinks to much. Her friend Constance is a hopeless romantic. What happens when the two young women make a bet to change? Will they fulfill their dreams? Will they find love? A fun trip through love and friendship, from Paris to Bordeaux.
Find I Don't Really Need You on Amazon.
Now optioned for film and TV by Papazian-Hirsch Entertainment! Follow Amy on this enchanting trip to Paris. But shh... she hasn't told a soul about the trip. Not even her husband. Through adventures laced with luscious food and a glimpse into an unexpected side of Paris, Amy learns that often in life, love, and friendship, nothing is exactly as it seems.
Find The Paris Effect on Amazon.
We love these second-chance love stories... and the best part about this one is that it's real! At 40, down-and-out Samantha knows that jetting off to France to reconnect with a man that she only knew for one sun-drenched, passion-filled day is crazy. But it's the kind of crazy she's been waiting for her whole life.
Find Seven Letters from Paris on Amazon.
Find A Perfumer's Secret on Amazon.
Wednesday, July 25, 2018
Forgetting Ophelia, the third book in Julie C. Gardner's Friendship & Secrets series. Each book can be read as a standalone.
Ever-hopeful Lia thinks she’ll be with handsome, brooding Jake forever. Until one day he completely blindsides her and makes her question everything she knows…
Lia Townsend is expecting a ring and a trip to Hawaii for her fifth wedding anniversary. Instead, her husband, Jake, walks out on her. Out of the blue. Devastated, Lia vows to win back Jake and the perfect life they shared.
Because it was perfect, wasn’t it?
But as Lia searches for the truth behind Jake’s departure, the cracks in the shiny varnish begin to show. And once she uncovers his secret, all that she once knew and believed in crumbles.
Lia’s eccentric mother, her best friend, and two vastly different men each pull her in new directions, and Lia attempts to push past the pain and start anew.
But Jake isn’t gone for good. When an accident rocks the lives of their best friends, Lia and Jake are thrown together. Will Lia choose to salvage her old life with the man who broke her heart – or was everything they shared an illusion?
Forgetting Ophelia is set for release in paperback and ebook formats on October 8th. In the meantime, discover the tangled friendships and deep-rooted secrets of Conejo Springs in the other titles in the Friendship & Secrets series.
Friday, July 20, 2018
Friends in Portugal: Best-seller The Paris Effect by K.S.R. Burns is now available in Portuguese through 20/20 Editora.
Here's the description in Portuguese:
Se quisesse fugir de tudo... escolheria Paris?
Amy e Kat tinham um plano: uma viagem secreta a Paris. Ninguém saberia, nem mesmo o marido de Amy. Até que Kat perde a batalha contra o cancro e o sonho chega ao fim.
Nas suas últimas palavras, Kat incentiva a amiga a fazer a viagem. Mas Amy nunca quebrou as regras, tanto na vida como à mesa - e fugir para Paris implicaria mentir ao marido e render-se a comida terrivelmente pecaminosa.
Guiada pela coragem de Kat, Amy aventura-se. Com um guarda-roupa tipicamente parisiense e muitas dúvidas, ela vai à procura de respostas para a sua vida nos cenários maravilhosos e na gastronomia da Cidade Luz.
Ao aprender que na amizade e no amor nem tudo é o que parece, ela conhece uma Paris diferente, fora dos itinerários turísticos, mas que poderá ser aquilo de que tanto precisa.
Check out the novel at retailers throughout the country!
Monday, July 2, 2018
A hilarious story about motherhood in Paris, where not all kids are well-behaved…
Check out the trailer for this best-selling memoir!
Praise for Confessions of a Paris Potty Trainer:
"I had to wipe tears from my eyes from laughing so hard."
- Pretty Little Book Reviews
"Vicki charms us with her wit and humor about life in Paris."
- Michelle R. Oeltjen, author of Love, Lies & Lessons Learned
Find the book on Amazon!
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