Happy Pub Week to today’s featured debut novel!

May 9, 2022May 9, 2022 momlovesreading01Leave a comment

⛱📖☀️Do you have books that you saved for spring/summer reading? Or maybe some books that are releasing soon & are going on your TBR, summer reading list? Today’s featured book is one you’ll want to add to that list for sure!

🎉Happy Pub Week to @catherinedrakewrites & her gorgeous new novel, ‘The Treeshouse on Dog River Road’, with a cover that practically screams “perfect summer read”! Thank you @booksparks for my gift copy of the book!😘

💁🏼‍♀️You won’t have to wait long to get this one in your hands! Releasing on 5/10, ‘The Treehouse on Dog River Road’ by Catherine Drake is about a young, determined woman trying to figure out life & love while staying true to herself. It’s a whip-smart, atmospheric, entertaining, & genuinely witty debut w/ wonderful characters you’ll love getting to know.

📖Twenty-eight-year-old Hannah Spencer wants nothing more than to change everything about her life. After ten years of living in cities, Nathan Wild has just moved back home to Vermont & doesn’t want to change anything about his.

📖Recently laid off from her depressing job in Boston & ready for a challenge, Hannah heads to Vermont for the summer to take care of her sister’s kids & do some serious soul searching. There, against the stunning landscape of the Green Mountains, she embarks on an ambitious project: building a treehouse for her niece & nephew.

📖As she hammers away, she formulates a plan to jump-start her life w/ a new job out West. But will Nathan-next-door complicate her desire to change course? A humorous, romantic, & inspiring story of a young woman taking control & making tough choices about love & work to build the life she wants, ‘The Treehouse on Dog River Road’ will have you rooting for Hannah every step of the way.

🌳🏠The treehouse sketch above, ‘Hannah’s Treehouse’, is from the book, ‘The Treehouse on Dog River Road’, & is original artwork by Bridget Phillips that I used as a Photoshop backdrop with the book as the top layer.

You can click on any of the highlighted book titles above to add them to your Goodreads lists. You can also click HERE to visit my Instagram post & show the author (& me!) your support by hitting that ♥️ , maybe even SHARE the post to your stories.

✒️📖Catherine Drake enjoys life with her husband, dog, and extended family in Vermont. ‘The Treehouse on Dog River Road’ is her first novel. To learn more follow her on Instagram @catherinedrakewrites or www.catherinedrake.com

Book Reviews · Chick Lit · Family Drama · MomLit · Parenting books · WomensFiction

When several of your favorite mom-com authors blurb on a book, you know you’re going to love it! And I did!

March 28, 2022March 28, 2022 momlovesreading01Leave a comment

💁🏼‍♀️Welcome to Mom Life Monday! If you’re a mom, especially to a daughter, you’re going to love this upcoming 4/5/22 release & want to get it pre-ordered & on your TBR lists ASAP. And the cover is super cute, too!

📚I’m a huge fan of women’s fiction, more specifically “mom-com” or “mom-lit”, which is like “chic-lit’s” cool mom. Like Amy Poehler once said in one of my fave movies, ‘Mean Girls’, “I’m not like a regular mom. I’m a cool mom!” Me, too, Amy. Me, too! (At least I think so…🤔)

🐓’Welcome to the Neighborhood’ by Lisa Roe is a heartwarming & life-affirming story of family dynamics, mother/daughter relationships, & second chances—perfect for fans of Maria Semple, Laurie Gelman & Abbi Waxman. I’ve read & loved all of Waxman’s books, so I was excited to read Lisa Roe’s debut novel after seeing Abbi’s blurb, which I think sums up the book perfectly:

📖As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for…

After years of struggling to make ends meet, Ginny, a single mom from Queens, falls for a hard-working & loving man, & relishes the idea of moving w/ her quirky 11-yr-old daughter, Harri, to his home in an upscale New Jersey suburb. Though she’s never been impressed by material things, she is thrilled that getting a second chance at love comes w/ the added bonus of finally giving Harri everything she never could before.

And then she meets the neighbors.

Ginny is quickly thrust into the complicated realities of a neighborhood defined by the ever-shifting alliances of PTA moms, Real Housewife contenders, & their mean-girl daughters. When the neighbors’ secrets, back-stabbing, & bad behavior take a devastating toll on her daughter & new marriage, Ginny must decide what really matters—& protect it at all costs.

🗣What other authors have said about ‘Welcome to the Neighborhood’ by Lisa Roe:

“We need Lisa Roe’s side-eye on navigating a new marriage, a quirky child and a fresh start for everyone, with neighbors who put it all at risk. Warm, funny, heartwarming, and heartbreaking.”―Ann Garvin, USA Today bestselling author of I Thought You Said This Would Work

“A heartfelt and endearing story about keeping one’s feet firmly planted while simultaneously dreaming big.” ―Kathleen West, author of Are We There Yet?

“A love letter to mothers of tweens everywhere.”—Kelly Harms, bestselling author of The Seven Day Switch

“A must-read. Readers will cheer for Ginny as she stands her ground.”—Jamie Beck, Wall Street Journal bestselling author

Click HERE to visit Lisa Roe’s webpage (which is beautiful!)

Click HERE to add ‘Welcome to the Neighborhood’ to your Goodreads list. (Add me as a friend while you’re there!)

Click HERE to goto BookStoreLink & pre-order/find the book at a local indie bookstore.

Click HERE to visit Lisa Roe on Instagram (PS: Don’t forget to visit me on Instagram, too, & be sure to check out my latest giveaway in a previous post.

After graduating from the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University & spending many years as an advertising creative director & copywriter in New York City, Lisa Roe accepted the tougher job of stay-at-home mom & turned to writing fiction — mostly to entertain her kids, but then to tell her own stories. A classic first born, a reluctant empty nester, & a Dr. Doolittle wannabe, Lisa lives in New Jersey with her husband & three incorrigible dogs. Welcome to the Neighborhood is her debut novel.

BeachReads · Book Reviews · Fiction · WomensFiction

Summer Reading, had me a blast… Pink Ladies (and readers) of the world unite, as I introduce you to Jackie Gold!

July 27, 2021July 27, 2021 momlovesreading01Leave a comment

🎶Summer reading, had me a blast! Summer reading, is going by too fast!🎶

🤩Pink Ladies (and readers) of the world unite, as I introduce you to ‘The Real True Hollywood Story of Jackie Gold‘ by Dinah Manoff, who played Pink Lady, Marty Maraschino (“Like the cherry”😉), in the classic movie ‘Grease’!

⭐️Yes, Ms. Manoff also starred in ‘Empty Nest’ & was in ‘Child’s Play’ & numerous other films & TV shows, & won a Tony award for her performance in Neil Simon’s ‘I Ought To be in Pictures’, but she’ll forever be my tween idol Marty, the plucky, sexy yet sweet, (& my favorite) Pink Lady! I LOVED ‘Grease’ (still do!) & I most certainly DID own a Pink Ladies jacket when I was a kid (pink is still, & always will be my fave color!). For the last several yrs, my twin sons (who are autistic) have been completely obsessed w/ the movie as well (& yep, they have T-Bird jackets, know the movie by heart like I do!)

🤩So, imagine my excitement when I was contacted & asked if I would like to receive an early copy of Dinah Manoff’s 7/20/21 release ‘The Real True Hollywood Story of Jackie Gold’… Heck yeah, I would! And you guys…It is SO great!🙌🏻

📖Following her Oscar nomination, tabloid cover girl Jackie Gold has been offered the role of a lifetime. At the height of her career, her equally famous boyfriend and current People’s “Sexiest Man of the Year” has a proposal of his own. It’s enough to make a pack of bloodthirsty paparazzi push her over the edge.

📖The year is 1999 and Jackie fights for her life while the press and public speculate on everything from whether “JACKIE’S JUMP!” was a suicide attempt to whether or not her breasts are real. Visitors circle her hospital bed, sharing regrets and spilling secrets when they think she can’t hear from her comatose state.

📖While drama unfolds at her bedside confessional, Jackie’s life replays like a movie in her mind. In a narrative both hilarious and heartbreaking, she recounts her improbable Malibu upbringing, her California coming-of-age, and the fat-free, drug-fueled, “glamourous” Hollywood career that led to her notorious jump.

📖Award-winning actor and director Dinah Manoff offers an honest, fictional glimpse behind the red carpet in her new novel about a Hollywood star, the remarkable journey that got her there, and her walk-in closet full of tabloid-worthy secrets. Best known for her roles in Grease and Empty Nest, Dinah Manoff has used her own experiences to craft an engrossing page-turner both exciting and wise, posing the ultimate starry-eyed question: Does fame really matter in the end?

⭐️Jackie’s journey is a coming-of-age in Hollywood, both treacherous & hilarious, in this utterly captivating & satisfyingly addictive read, where secrets are revealed & relationships are shattered & mended. It’s a truly unique, deliciously delightful read, weaving even more ‘Hollywood-esque’ style into the pages by starting & ending each chapter in script/screenplay style. I’d love to read more from Dinah Manoff & more about Jackie Gold in the future!

🌟Thank you @kelleyandhall for my gift copy of the book, which is available now, so get it because summer & reading goes together like rama lama lama ka dinga da dinga dong!😎

Click HERE to add ‘The Real True Hollywood Story of Jackie Gold’ to your Goodreads lists.
Click HERE to see this post (& Follow Me!) on Instagram at @mom_loves_reading
Click HERE to visit Dinah Manoff on Instagram.

🌟Dinah Manoff is an award-winning actor & director. She has written for both stage & television & had several short stories presented at the prestigious writer’s forum Spoken Interludes & recorded for KCRW.
She has had numerous roles on stage & in film, among them, Grease, Ordinary People, & Child’s Play. Dinah has starred in the television series Soap, Empty Nest, & State of Grace.
She received a Tony award for her role in Neil Simon’s play, I Ought to Be in Pictures, & won the prestigious L.A. Theater award for her stage adaptation & direction of her father’s novel, A Telegram for Heaven.
Dinah is the daughter of actress/director Lee Grant & the late writer Arnold Manoff; she resides with her husband & sons in the Seattle area. The Real True Hollywood Story of Jackie Gold is her first novel.