Michelle's Book Nook

Review: Mad About The Boy by Suzan Battah

2012-02-20T19:24:00.001-08:00

Julia Mendoza is driven by the success of her business. Since her husband Carlos passed away at such a young age, her business By Design is her number one priority. In her late twenties she works too hard and doesn’t take time out for fun. Annoyance with a pesky ex-friend has her begging one of the local surfer’s with a cheeky smile in the grocery store to pretend he’s her boyfriend. Suddenly, life takes a sudden detour from her business plan; much to the delight of her boisterous Latin American family. Christophe Augustine is groomed to take over his father’s successful chain of luxurious hotels. With a wealthy French-American background, Chris has been given privileges that not many have. He works hard, plays harder but seeks approval and recognition above all else. Family is a top priority for him as he fights for custody of his young brother. His parent’s divorce has not diminished his faith in romance. When a gorgeous Latino woman changes one boring morning into an interesting game of role play, though reluctant to help at first, he soon realizes she’s not like the string of other women he’s known. A romantic first date ending dramatically doesn’t stop Chris from wanting to know Julia more. And for Julia, she’s all for a bit of fun but when things get too serious she’s running the other way. Too alike, in some ways and complete opposites, in other ways, Julia and Chris fumble through fun moments, annoying confrontations, passionate times and heartbreaking revelations. Love has no boundaries when soul-mates meet but when one is ready to love and the other one isn’t….

This was an interesting read for me. The character of Julia is deeply scarred by the loss of her husband and very skittish. I went back and forth on how I felt for her. While I sympathized with her and the situations that happened, I also wanted to reach into the Kindle and shake her. I loved the character of Chris. He fell hard a little too fast, but it was evident in the lifestyle he lived things happened fast.

There was a conflict on both sides, misunderstandings that had to be worked through, and Julia learning that she could love someone as deeply as she loved Carlos and to stop worrying that she was going to lose them as well. Suzan Battah told a heartfelt story of a woman learning to open her heart up again, filling it with gripping twists and a strong supporting cast of characters. This was a fantastically woven love story of two people that were meant to be together.

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Suzan Battah is a proud Australian born author who has loved to write since her teenage years. In 2011 she published her first novel a contemporary multicultural romance - Mad About the Boy. In her spare time she weaves magical tales to entertain. Suzan writes YA Fiction - Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance, Regency Romance and Contemporary Romance. Other fun things you can find her doing is training at the gym and Latin/Ballroom dancing. Suzan is afraid of heights, loves most things that are sweet, has no clue about fashion and one day hopes to speak Spanish fluently. Her second novel a YA Urban Fantasy Adventure - BaSatai: Outside In will be released on the 14th of April 2012.

Connect with Suzan:

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Review: Thank You For Flying Air Zoe by Erik Atwell

2012-02-16T04:54:00.001-08:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fasten Seat Belt sign has been turned on, but feel free to ignore it, because sometimes life is best lived on its dizzy edges. Your cruising altitude today will be sky high, and you will be flying at staggering speeds as you travel alongside Zoe Tisdale, former Valley Girl and rock star turned bored butter saleswoman. On the heels of a brush with mortality, Zoe concludes that she's been letting time pass her by. Realizing she needs to awaken her life's tired refrains, Zoe vows to recapture the one chapter of her life that truly mattered to her - her days as drummer for The Flip-Flops, a spirited, sassy all-girl garage band that almost hit the big time back in 1987. But reuniting the band won't be easy. The girls who were once the whiz kid guitarist, the prom queen bass player, and the hippie lead singer grew up and became women who are now a reclusive dog trainer, a wealthy socialite, and a sociopathic environmentalist. Will Zoe bring the band back together and give The Flip-Flops a second chance at stardom? Is it possible to fully reclaim the urgent energy of youth? As you follow this wild flight path, please know that your destination could be anywhere at all, complimentary oxygen is provided upon request, and baggage flies free. We hope you enjoy the ride, and Thank You For Flying Air Zoe.

Hey, Erik, Congratulations! You wrote a fun, rocking chick-lit novel that was an absolute delight to read. Zoe, Lauren, Ginger, and Melinda were four kickass chicks that came to life in the pages of this debut novel. My nerves were rattled in the first few pages as the rocky "are we about to crash" flight ensued, reminding me again why I need to be medicated in order to fly. (Hello, motion sickness!) As Zoe had the epiphany to get the ol' high school band back together, I laughed as she was clearly having a mid-life crisis.

The characters were all quirky and had some major personality flaws that made you want to in turn throttle them and hug them. Mixed with vivid description of the places and people surrounding them, this was a book that I had a great time reading and rooting for The Flip-Flops to play the legendary Whiskey-A-Go-Go. (Oh and I have a need to bust out some Go-Go's music at this time as well and sing along to "We Got The Beat".)

This is a definite 5 star book!

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Erik Atwell started his writing career in grammar school, when a one page history class assignment ballooned into a forty page fictional account of a politically controversial silversmith in Boston circa 1776. From there, he wrote short stories while living in New Hampshire, screenplays upon moving to Los Angeles, then finally novels when he ultimately landed in Seattle. He now lives in Seattle with his rock star wife and his six-month-old son, whose only musical claim to fame thus far is sleeping through an entire Go-Go's concert. But in his defense, he was three weeks old, and the stage was a quarter-mile away. "Thank You For Flying Air Zoe" is his first novel, and he hopes to write a second novel before the little guy treks off to college.

Erik's website

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By the book here:
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Review: Year Of The Chick by Romi Moondi

2012-02-04T21:31:00.000-08:00

An awkward family homecoming at Christmas.

A humiliating public weigh-in, with two judging parents as the audience.

The announcement of a deadline for arranged marriage doom.

And that's just the first two chapters.

In "Year of the Chick," Romi Narindra must find love before her parents find her a husband. This is a difficult task in a world where self-consciousness is at an all-time high, and dating experience at an all-time low.

Severely lacking in seductive skills and uninspired by her corporate job, Romi turns to what she loves, by writing about her quest to find love on her brand new blog.

From whiskey-breath scum bags to uni-brow creeps and everything in between, Romi and her wingmen come up empty time after time. Just when giving up seems like the thing to do, she meets a fellow writer unexpectedly.

On the Internet.

So will it be arranged marriage doom, or an Internet affair that's not as creepy as "To Catch a Predator"?

Time will tell in the "year of the chick," a twelve-month quest to find love....tick-tock.

What a fun book to start off the new year with. Romi Moondi has such a unique voice about her and her tale of finding a man or being married off by the parents kept me entertained the whole way through.

Romi and her sister had that love-hate relationship that siblings excel at having and I laughed as the two of them exchanged "loving greetings". I loved the friends in Romi's life...even when they had squabbles, they stayed true to each other. The co-workers determined to help Romi find her man so she wouldn't be forced into marriage were the kind of co-workers that I wished I had. The best friend that kept it real. And, of course, we have to talk about James, the internet crush. I went back and forth with my feelings for him. I was intrigued, then suspicious. He felt too good to be true and then it felt Romi was reading a little too much into him and his intentions. Luckily he redeemed himself. Romi overreacted and had moments of selfish actions, but you rooted for her the entire time.

This was such a fun book and I'm going to anxiously await the sequel to come out. (When is that again, Romi?)

Interact with Romi here:

Romi's Author Page on Facebook

Romi on Twitter

Brief bio:
I am Canadian, and here are some strange personal facts:

-I wore denim-top-to-bottom in high school (there is a direct inverse relationship between how much denim I wore and how few tongues were launched down my throat at school dances...or anywhere in high school at all).
-I'm continually baffled by that Malaysian baby whose father let him smoke two packs of cigarettes a day. That baby had so many fat rolls, and I thought cigarettes were supposed to be slimming.
-I always hated those insufferable couples who would cuddle and make out on the subway...until I became half of one. But now I'm back to being none of one so I hate them again.

Buy the book!

Click the below link to be entered to win a $10 Amazon gift card.

Guest Post: Inspiration & Sleep-Deprivation by Romi Moondi

2012-02-04T08:43:00.000-08:00

Romi Moondi stopped by on her blog tour to chat about inspiration and the all too frequent for everyone, sleep deprivation. Thank you so much, Romi, for such a fun post!

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Inspiration and Sleep-Deprivation

Hi Michelle, thanks for the guest post opportunity! It's especially fun to write it when I'm so well-rested. YES, I am writing this post as a fully-rested human in the midst of several vacation days.

For ninety-five percent of the time though, this human and "well-rested" do not go together AT ALL.

It's the story of a full-time corporate rat with dreams of being a successful author, and it's frickin' tiring!

It's not just writers; it could be musicians, book bloggers, painters, bakers, it could be anyone at all with a passion outside the "nine-to-five."

We all have that one thing in common, that drive to do something different, even if it's only possible on evenings and weekends.

What's wrong with us?

I guess that's a different question for a psychiatric-themed blog, but in this case, that insane and sometimes ill-advised drive is the reason why I've published two books.

This post reminds me of last month, when I was enjoying a bottle of wine with one of my best friends on her birthday. She said that watching me embark on this publishing journey has made her look into her own life, and wonder why she doesn't have a crazy passion too. First I laughed in her face, then I told her that all of this was only the end result, and everything before it had often felt scary and lonely and uncertain. I described the many Saturday nights I'd been sequestered in my room madly writing, when I knew that she and others like her were out having a blast. I told her how terrifying it was, to wonder if I was wasting my time and my sleep-deprived youth, for something that may never, ever, ever be successful.

She looked at me with horror and drank more wine.

There's an obvious upside to the sacrifice, and that's the satisfaction of each additional stranger that tells me they loved my book. That's what it's all about: writing what I love, and impacting others with those words, in some small way at least. I love that feeling so much, that I will spend 2012 writing and releasing book 2 in the "Year of the Chick" series, even with a full-time job, three-hour-a-day commute, and an urge to go to the gym so I can keep fitting into my clothes.

I will do it all, because…at the end of the day…there is anti-aging under-eye cream.

And coffee.

Cheers, and I hope you'll enjoy "Year of the Chick," a humorous quest to find love and avoid arranged marriage (not based on real life at all…*cough*).

Romi

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Romi's Author Page on Facebook

Romi on Twitter

Brief bio:
I am Canadian, and here are some strange personal facts:

-I wore denim-top-to-bottom in high school (there is a direct inverse relationship between how much denim I wore and how few tongues were launched down my throat at school dances...or anywhere in high school at all).
-I'm continually baffled by that Malaysian baby whose father let him smoke two packs of cigarettes a day. That baby had so many fat rolls, and I thought cigarettes were supposed to be slimming.
-I always hated those insufferable couples who would cuddle and make out on the subway...until I became half of one. But now I'm back to being none of one so I hate them again.

Buy the book!

Click the below link to be entered to win a $10 Amazon gift card.

Review: Sleeping with Paris by Juliette Sobanet

2012-01-22T18:21:00.000-08:00

Charlotte Summers is a sassy, young French teacher who is two days away from moving to Paris with the love of her life and from fulfilling her dream of studying at the prestigious Sorbonne University in France. But when she discovers her fiancé’s online dating profile and has a little chat with the busty red-head he’s been sleeping with on the side, she gives up on committed relationships altogether and decides to navigate Paris on her own.

Determined to stop other women from finding themselves in her shoes, Charlotte creates an anonymous blog on how to date like a man in the City of Love—that is, how to jump from bed to bed without ever falling in love. But, with a slew of Parisian men beating down her door, a hot new neighbor who feeds her chocolate in bed, and an appearance by her sleazy ex-fiancé, she isn’t so sure she can keep her promise to remain commitment-free.

And, when Charlotte agrees to write an article for a popular women’s magazine about her Parisian dating adventures—or disasters, rather—will she risk losing the one man who’s swept her off her feet and her dream job in one fell swoop?

What a delightful debut novel from an amazingly talented author, Juliette Sobanet. I adored the characters in this novel. From the heartbroken and clearly scared Charlotte to her wacky girlfriends to the very charming Luc. I loved how their stories wove together and their strengths and weaknesses are wrote with so much passion you feel you are part of the story being told. Paris is brought to life in your mind as the author takes the time to describe the scenery without going overboard. I did wish that Charlotte had gotten the chance to tell off the truly awful Madame Rousseau, but there truly isn't anything that can be said other than do yourself a favor and read this book.

Interview with Nancy Volkers

2012-01-18T19:58:00.000-08:00

Thank you so much to Nancy for graciously answering some questions. It was so much fun having you on my blog!

Have you always wanted to be a writer?

Yes, definitely. I started writing stories when I was 4 or 5, and really got into it in 3rd grade. I was a writing minor in college and actually applied to several MFA programs for fiction writing, but never enrolled in a program. I also kept a journal off and on for about 28 years… gah, that’s a long time.

Who are some authors that inspired you along the way?

As a kid… Roald Dahl, CS Lewis, Madeleine L’Engle, Lois Lowry. As an adult… Tana French, Shakespeare, Stephen King, Bill Bryson, Anne Lamott,

Have you been to Scotland? And was there a real life Ralph there?

I’ve been to Scotland twice, back in the 1990s. I did not meet a real-life Ralph either time. ;-) There may be one there, however – I’m not discounting that possibility. Ralph came straight out of my imagination, and while I’ve been told that men like him don’t exist, I can happily confirm that those people are wrong.

The ending of "Scotland by Starlight" was extremely different than I thought it would go. Not to spoil those that haven't read the book, but was that where you always planned to take the story?

No, it wasn’t. But stories take on lives of their own. The ending came to me well before the book was finished. I sat down one day and began writing in Ralph’s voice. It wasn’t what I expected, but once I started writing it, I could see that it would have to end that way. I can’t explain why, though I have been asked many times by many people!

My favorite question to ask, who would you cast in a movie of either or both of the books?

Fun question! I imagine Ralph as sort of a Richard Gere/Kevin Costner/Sam Neill type. Gerard Butler has always been my go-to guy for Ralph, but if others have suggestions, I’d love to hear them! For Cassie, I’ve thought about Ellen Page (Juno) or maybe Carey Mulligan or Amy Adams… Cassie is harder to cast, I think. There are so many beautiful actresses, and while Cassie is attractive, she’s not drop-dead gorgeous (though Ralph would beg to differ with me on that one). But she is intelligent and a bit neurotic, and that’s not always easy to play.

What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Write as much as you can. Read whatever you can get your hands on. And don’t listen to people who try to bring you down.

What are you working on next?

I have a novel in progress about a 30-something woman at a crossroads in her life, who meets someone who isn’t what he seems. I have a list of ideas for other books, as well. And I’d love to write the screenplay for A Scottish Ferry Tale and Scotland by Starlight; I see them being combined into one film. However, 2011 has been a year of huge changes for me and I haven’t gotten much writing done at all! I’m planning to carve out some time in 2012, though. I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, but publishing another novel is definitely on my agenda!

And did I mention, is there a real Ralph in Scotland? I'm ready to go now.

There just might be! But even if Scotland is Ralphless, it’s a gorgeous country with friendly people and cute sheep. Definitely worth a visit!

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Thank you to Samantha with CLP Blog Tours for including me in such a wonderful tour.

Click on the link and leave a comment to be entered to win a $10 Amazon Gift Card.

** If you purchase your copy of Scotland by Starlight before February 6 and send your receipt to Samantha (at) ChickLitPlus (dot) com, you will get five bonus entries! **

Come interact with Nancy at the following:

Nancy's Website

Nancy on Goodreads

Nancy on Twitter

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Review: Scotland by Starlight by Nancy Volkers

2012-01-17T19:43:00.000-08:00

Last May, I did a review for A Scottish Ferry Tale by Nancy Volkers and the book was just perfect. It was the right blend of romance that appealed to me and had me wanting more of the story of Cassie and Ralph. I was excited to find out there was a sequel and thank you to Samantha with Chick Lit Plus Blog Tours for asking me to be part of this tour.

From Goodreads:

Cassie Wrentham is on her way to Scotland again... but this time it's not vacation. She's moving in with Ralph Macnair, the charismatic Scotsman who stole her heart. But Cassie wouldn't be Cassie without doubts. Will she find a job in a tight U.K. economy? Would marrying Ralph now be only for convenience's sake? Will she fit in, make friends, make a life there? Or will it all fall apart? Bursting with a lively cast of characters, all with their own stories and challenges, Scotland By Starlight follows Cassie and Ralph from the new beginnings of their intense relationship to a conclusion like no other.

Nancy Volkers wrote two of the most interesting characters. Cassie continued to exasperate me here and there with her indecisiveness and her putting up roadblocks, but the character of Ralph was wrote with so much love for Cassie that even when he became unsure it was evident that they loved each other. As the issue of age came up again and again, I started to have a sense of dread fill me. But the relationship continued to grow and the inevitable wedding takes place. However, there is an epilogue to this book and while I won't spoil it for you, my heart broke and I cried through the remaining pages of the book. So much emotion in this book and one that you will not want to put down when you start reading it. Nancy has proven to be a remarkable storyteller and hopefully we get something new from her soon, carrying on in this tradition.

I highly recommend this book, but please be sure to read the first one to get the whole magical love story.

Here it is!

2011-12-29T21:10:00.000-08:00

I had a rather sad realization the other day. The only thing my personal blog has going on is bookish stuff. In an attempt to get my creativity flowing and get on better track with both blogging and doing more reviews, I decided a separation was in order. Thus, Michelle's Book Nook was born! I will be posting book reviews and hosting guest blogs and fun author interviews over here. I may even start throwing in a giveaway or two!

So welcome!! Pull up a seat and let's dish all things booky!