Tag: Fiction

Blog Tour · Book Reviews · Booksparks · Fiction · Romance · RomCom · WomensFiction

Rainy, chilly, fall weekends are for books and reading…

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It’s just another rainy, chilly Sunday here in N Ohio, but thanks to Booksparks Fall Reading Challenge #FRC2021, I have some fabulous new fall releases to keep me “booked” for the weekend!

Thank you @booksparks for my gift copy of the 9/21/21 contemporary romance novel, ‘When Sparks Fly’ by Helena Hunting, NYT bestselling author of more than 2 dozen novels, including the others that I’ve read shown in the above photo:
‘The Good Luck Charm’ ‘Meet Cute’ & ‘Kiss My Cupcake’

Running the Spark House, a hotel/event space that has been in her family for yrs, has been Avery Spark’s lifelong dream. After yrs of working hard & making personal sacrifices, Avery & her two younger sisters have turned the Spark House into the premier destination in Colorado Springs. Avery is living her best life—she works w/ her sisters & loves every minute of it, she has a great group of friends, & she lives in a fantastic condo with her best friend Declan. She might not have any love in her life, but she’s happy.

But everything comes to a screeching halt when Avery is in a car accident, leaving her immobile for weeks. After nearly losing Avery, Declan insists that he will be the one to take care of her while she recovers. However, as Declan becomes Avery’s caretaker, lines begin to blur.

Avery & Declan have been best friends since college & always had an attraction to one another, but when she ended up dating his best friend, Sam, they successfully stamped down any feelings they may have ever had for one another. Now, as Declan & Avery spend more time together, they each begin to wonder what would’ve happened if she’d dated him instead of Sam. What starts as a friend helping out another friend turns into foreplay &, before they realize it, they recognize how deeply they care for one another. But when things get serious their past threatens to destroy everything they have built.

‘When Sparks Fly’ is a feel-good, soul warming novel that’s charming, witty, sexy, & emotional & is Helena Hunting at her best! Here’s what some of the leading editorial reviewer’s have said about the book:

“When Sparks Fly will warm your heart and make you cry – sometimes at the same time.” – PopSugar

“In this delightfully fun standalone contemporary from prolific and ever-lively Hunting, the author plays to her literary strengths by giving readers a sensuality-forward storyline that is neatly lightened by snarky humor even as it’s deftly grounded by a thoughtful exploration of the roles family and friends can play in our lives.” – Booklist

“This is a solid pick for romance fans.” – Publishers Weekly

“The supporting characters―Avery’s two sisters and her and Declan’s group of friends―make the romance richer.” – Kirkus Reviews

Click HERE to add ‘When Sparks Fly’ to your Goodreads list.
Click HERE to visit Helena Hunting on Instagram.
Click HERE to visit (& FOLLOW, please!) Mom_Loves_Reading on Instagram.

NYT and USA Today bestselling author, Helena Hunting lives outside of Toronto with her amazing family and her two awesome cats, who think the best place to sleep is her keyboard.

Helena writes everything from emotional contemporary romance to romantic comedies that will have you laughing until you cry.

Visit her website: https://helenahunting.com/

Blog Tour · Book Reviews · Fiction · WomensFiction

Happy Pub Week to so many fantastic new fall reads, including this one…

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Happy Pub Week to Melissa Payne & her new novel ‘The Night of Many Endings‘, released on 10/19! Thank you @getredprbooks #lakeunionpublishing for my gift copy of the book!

If you grew up roaming the aisles of your local library, hiding in its corners, spending hours reading in a corner head deep in a book, or if you loved the 80s classic ‘The Breakfast Club’ where a group of teens from various social classes find common ground, then you will love this open-hearted, emotionally resonant novel.

“I heard a powerful quote from a librarian that libraries are perhaps the last place in society where they welcome you, where you don’t have to buy or believe anything. So, I wanted to write about a library that faces real challenges every day, & that brings strangers together. To explore how it’s easy to make assumptions about people rather than wait & get to know someone.”- Melissa Payne

From the bestselling author of ‘Memories in the Drift’ & ‘The Secrets of Lost Stones’, comes ‘The Night of Many Endings‘, an emotionally rich, feel-good novel about hope, second chances, & seeing the world through someone else’s eyes.

Orphaned at a young age & witness to her brother’s decline into addiction, Nora Martinez has every excuse to question the fairness of life. Instead, the openhearted librarian in the small Colorado community of Silver Ridge sees only promise. She holds onto the hope that she’ll be reunited w/ her missing brother & does what she can at the town library. It’s her home away from home, but it’s also a sanctuary for others who, like her brother, could use a second chance.

There’s Marlene, an elderly loner who believes that, apart from her husband, there’s little good left in the world; Jasmine, a troubled teen; Lewis, a homeless man w/ lost hope & one last wish; & Vlado, the security guard who loves a good book &, from afar, Nora.

As a winter storm buries Silver Ridge, this collection of lonely hearts takes shelter in the library. They’ll discover more about each other, & themselves, than they ever knew—& Nora will be forced to question her brother’s disappearance in ways she never could have imagined. No matter how stranded in life they feel, this fateful night could be the new beginning they didn’t think was possible.

Add to your Goodreads AMAZON FIND AN INDEPENDANT BOOKSTORE NEAR YOU

Visit the author at www.melissapayneauthor.com
Be sure to follow Mom_Loves_Reading on Instagram by clicking HERE
Follow Mom_Loves_Reading on Goodreads by clicking HERE
Follow Mom_Loves_Reading on Facebook by clicking HERE

As a middle child, Melissa Payne was born to tell stories.
What started with blaming her brother for breaking the car window evolved to a graduate thesis that she desperately wishes she could rewrite to blogging on motherhood and marriage.
Now she likes to create stories set in wild and beautiful places with characters in flawed and imperfect relationships, whether that’s between a mother and a daughter, friends or strangers.
And imagining all of it with just a hint of the ethereal, a whisper of something beyond what we can see and a sense that it’s all for a purpose.

Blog Tour · Book Reviews · Family Drama · Fiction · Giveaway · WomensFiction

Be one of the first one’s to read today’s featured novel by entering this GIVEAWAY…

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GIVEAWAY time! 3 winners! Be one of the first to read ‘Catch Us When We Fall‘, the latest novel from Juliette Fay, that releases on 9/21! Thank you @williammorrowbooks & @getredpr (partners) for the gift copies for the giveaway & me! But first…

& Today is Nat’l Ampersand Day & if you’ve never noticed before, I use ampersand’s all the time, pretty much exclusively when it comes to my posts, text messages, emails, etc. I just love them for some reason.🤷🏼‍♀️😁

Who doesn’t love the fun & functional ampersand? From jotting a shorthand “and” to branding corporate names, this curly, quirky little character is ubiquitously useful. It’s also quite aesthetic, as you’ll see at AmperArt.com, featuring “the ampersand as fun & fabulous art.”

To acknowledge & applaud this great little glyph, National Ampersand Day is observed annually on September 8th. Did you know:

  • The ampersand used to be the last letter of the alphabet?
  • It is a ligature of “e” & “t”? That’s “et” in Latin, meaning “and”?
  • The word “ampersand” is a slurring of “real words” run together over time?
  • The plus sign is actually an ampersand

Ok, now on to the today’s book feature & giveaway info….

If you love the emotionally complex novels of JoJo Moyes & the dramatic books of Jodi Picoult, you won’t want to miss this newest book about second chances, redemption, & the power of hope from USA Today bestselling author of ‘Shelter Me’, Juliette Fay.

On her own since the age of eighteen, Cass Macklin dated brilliant, troubled Ben McGreavy, convinced he was the smartest person she’d ever known. They partied their way through their twenties, slowly descending into a bleak world of binge-drinking & broken promises, inebriated for most of a decade. Now Ben is dead, & Cass is broke, homeless, scared…& pregnant.

Determined to have a healthy pregnancy & raise Ben’s baby, Cass has to find a way to stop drinking & build a stable life for herself & her child. But with no money, skills, or sober friends or family, the task seems insurmountable. At wit’s end, Cass turns to the only person with the means to help her: Ben’s brother Scott, third basemen for the Boston Red Sox, a man with a temper & problems of his own.

The two make a deal that neither one of them is sure they can live up to. As Cass struggles to take control of her life & to ask for help when she needs it, Scott begins to realize there’s a life for him beyond the baseball diamond.

By turns heartbreaking & humorous, with its message that change is possible, that forgiveness can be freely given, & that life, though imperfect, is worth embracing, ‘Catch Us When We Fall‘ is a story of human connection & hope.

I’d love to send 3 of my followers an arc of the book & maybe even a bonus other book, too. (see details below)
To enter: (click HERE to go to the Instagram post & giveaway, then…)
1-LIKE & SAVE the post.
2-Must be following me on Instagram
3-Tag a couple book lovers (Unlimited entries, 2 tags per com)
4-To possibly earn a bonus book if you win, comment up to 10 books per com that you would love to receive. Past or newer books.)
Bonus 5 entries ea:
5-SHARE to your stories or grid & tag me. Can do daily!
6-Subscribe to my blog (I hope you already are),& comment on giveaway there & comment on Insta that you did so I can confirm.
7-Follow Mom_Loves_Reading on Facebook & comment on giveaway post there.

Be sure to add ‘Catch Us When We Fall‘ to your Goodreads & look for it on 9/21! Giveaway is 9/8-9/11/21, is US only, & not affiliated w/ Insta. Unfollowing after gets you banned from my many giveaways for 1 yr, so don’t risk missing out.🙅🏼‍♀️😉

Juliette Fay is the bestselling author of six novels, including CATCH US WHEN WE FALL, CITY OF FLICKERING LIGHT & THE TUMBLING TURNER SISTERS, a USA Today bestseller & Costco Pennie’s Book Club Pick. Previous novels include THE SHORTEST WAY HOME, one of Library Journal’s Top 5 Best Books of 2012: Women’s Fiction; DEEP DOWN TRUE, short-listed for the 2011Women’s Fiction award by the American Library Association; & SHELTER ME, a 2009 Massachusetts Book Award “Must-Read Book” & an Indie Next pick.

Juliette is a graduate of Boston College & Harvard University, and lives in Massachusetts with her family. Visit her at www.juliettefay.com, Facebook: Juliette Fay author, Twitter: @juliettefay, & Instagram: Juliette_Fay.

Blog Tour · Book Reviews · Family Drama · Fiction · Giveaway · WhatImWatching · WomensFiction

I’m back, blog readers and booksta-fam, and I have a new GIVEAWAY for you!

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💁🏼‍♀️I’m back, Booksta-fam & blog readers, after a much needed break from social media, & I feel mentally refreshed! And I have a brand new GIVEAWAY to kick off September & my return to social media for a wonderful recent release that I loved & I know you will, too! And it has a 70+ yr old Instagram influencer in it! So cool!👵🏼🤳🏻

Barbara O’Neal, bestselling author of ‘When We Believed in Mermaids’, returns w/ a tale of two generations of women reconciling family secrets & past regrets.

Life’s beautiful for seventy-something influencer Gloria Rose, in her Upper West Side loft w/ rooftop garden & scores of Instagram followers–until she gets word that her old flame has been arrested for art theft & forgery, &, knowing her own involvement in his misdeeds decades earlier, decides to flee. But that plan is complicated when the nieces she raised are thrown into crises of their own.

Willow, overshadowed by her notorious singer-songwriter mother, has come home to lick her wounds on the heels of a failed album & yet another disastrous relationship. Sam, prickly & fiercely independent, is on the verge of losing not only her beloved video game company but the man she loves, thanks to her inability to keep her always-simmering anger in check.

With the FBI closing in, Willow’s career in shambles, & Sam’s tribulations reaching a peak, each of the three woman will have to reckon w/ & reconcile their interwoven traumas, past loves, & the looming consequences that could either destroy their futures or bring them closer than ever.

This is such a fantastic, well-crafted, heartfelt, & satisfying novel w/ a well-rounded cast of complex characters. Thank you @tlcbooktours for my gift copy! It released on 8/10, so get it on your TBR lists & enter now to win a copy now by going to my Instagram page HERE.

To enter on Instagram: 1- LIKE this post on Instagram, 2- Be following @mom_loves_reading on Instagram, & 3 -Tag a few book lovers!
Bonus entries if you SHARE to your stories on Instagram & tag me. (Can do daily). You can also get bonus entries if you follow my blog www.momlovesreading.com & LIKE/ comment on this blog post.

Giveaway is open to US res only, 9/1/21-9/4/21, & isn’t affiliated w/ Instagram. Please don’t unfollow after or you’ll miss out on a lot of upcoming giveaways, it’s mean, & I do keep track.

Purchase Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million

Barbara O’Neal is the author of more than a dozen award-winning, bestselling novels, including the runaway bestseller, When We Believed in Mermaids, which has been published in 20 countries and spent many months on the Amazon Charts, as well as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Washington Post bestseller lists. Barbara is an avid traveler and passionate cook, and she lives in the beautiful city of Colorado Springs with her husband, a British endurance athlete who vows he’ll never lose his accent. You can find more information on her newsletter and where to find her on social media at barbaraoneal.com.

Book Reviews · Fiction · LiteraryFiction · WomensFiction

Hey readers and all you other chronic pain warriors, here’s today’s book feature! (and my first blog post in 2 wks!)

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After spending the better part of August in an autoimmune flare-up & chronic pain inflammation, what better book to feature today than Mona Awad’s latest release, ‘All’s Well‘, published on 8/3! Thank you @simonandschuster for my gift copy!

I’ve barely been on the ‘gram for the last wk due to my flare-up & lack of proper sleep due to my pain has had me in a brain fog so thick, I can barely think straight. I take some meds, but nothing like the woman portrayed in this book. (*For the sake of privacy, I prefer not to go into specifics regarding meds or my exact autoimmunes.)

From the critically acclaimed author of ‘Bunny’ comes a darkly funny novel about a theater professor suffering from chronic pain, who in the process of staging a troubled production of Shakespeare’s most maligned play, suddenly & miraculously recovers.

Miranda Fitch’s life is a waking nightmare. The accident that ended her burgeoning acting career left her w/ excruciating, chronic back pain, a failed marriage, & a deepening dependence on painkillers. And now she’s on the verge of losing her job as a college theater director. Determined to put on Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well, the play that promised, & cost, her everything, she faces a mutinous cast hellbent on staging Macbeth instead. Miranda sees her chance at redemption slip through her fingers.

That’s when she meets three strange benefactors who have an eerie knowledge of Miranda’s past & a tantalizing promise for her future: one where the show goes on, her rebellious students get what’s coming to them, & the invisible, doubted pain that’s kept her from the spotlight is made known.

With prose Margaret Atwood has described as “no punches pulled, no hilarities dodged…genius,” Mona Awad has concocted her most potent, subversive novel yet. 

‘All’s Well’ is the story of a woman at her breaking point & a formidable, piercingly funny indictment of our collective refusal to witness & believe female pain. This unique story is about Miranda’s wavering mental health & grip on reality amid her battle w/ her chronic pain & the way invisible afflictions are perceived by peers.

‘All’s Well‘ is like following Miranda into the rabbit hole of pain meds, often chased w/ alcohol, as she alienates herself from friends & family as they grow tired of her moodiness due to her pain & meds. Is her inner monologue a descent into madness? This is a fiercely imaginative, deeply satisfying, intriguing, trippy novel that is also somewhat relatable at times, & also has a really cool cover. A solid, well-written novel!

Click HERE to add ‘All’s Well’ to your Goodreads lists.

Click HERE to visit MomLovesReading on Instagram & give this post some LIKE-love to show the author support (& me, too!)

Click HERE to use BookStoreLink & find ‘All’s Well’ at an indie bookstore near you or online.

Mona Awad was born in Montreal & has lived in the US since 2009. Her debut novel, 13 WAYS OF LOOKING AT A FAT GIRL (Penguin Books, 2016), won the Amazon Best First Novel Award & was shortlisted for the Giller Prize. Her second novel, BUNNY (Viking, 2019), was a finalist for a GoodReads Choice Award for Best Horror, the New England Book Award & the Massachusetts Book Award. It won the Ladies of Horror Fiction Best Novel Award. Her latest novel, ALL’S WELL, released with Simon & Schuster on August 3rd, 2021.
She earned an MFA in fiction from Brown University & an MScR in English from the University of Edinburgh where her dissertation was on fear in the fairy tale. In 2018, she completed a Ph.D. in Creative Writing & English literature at the University of Denver. She currently lives in Boston.