Today's guest: Cari Kamm
Her latest: For Internal Use Only
The scoop on it: Chloe Kassidy has just been accepted into one of Manhattan's most exclusive art exhibits, Love Through Light. However, with her singular dedication to her career, she soon realizes that in sacrificing her personal life, she has never been in love. A hopeless romantic who is terrified of heartbreak, Chloe begins to enlist the help of her circle of friends to learn about love through their very different stories and experiences.
In Chloe's emotional rollercoaster to having the greatest love story ever told, she'll learn that like her photography she must use the negatives in life to develop and prove that she's a strong woman who found her way to love through light.
Inspired by the notion that women grow up with ideas of true love and destiny, For Internal Use Only approaches those ideas with a decidedly twenty-first century viewpoint. A humorous love story with an edgy and dramatic twist, For Internal Use Only is a vastly entertaining novel that gives each of us a new fairy tale to look forward to: our own.
Our thoughts: We love books with a love story! You'll be hooked immediately as you follow along with Chloe on her funny and emotional journey to understand love.
Giveaway: 2 e-copies. Just leave a comment to be entered to win. We'll select the winners after 12pm PST on Sunday, February 24th.
Where you can read more about Cari: Twitter, Facebook and her Website.
CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS...CARI KAMM'S 5 BEST EVERS
BEST SONG: This is a tough one. The only way for me to decide was to check my iTunes account and view my ‘top 25 most played’ list. These are my top four:
Gravity – Sara Bareilles
Cocoon – Jack Johnson
She left on a Monday – Bic Runga
By Your Side – Sade
These songs are often played on repeat for hours!
BEST BOOK: Sophie Kinsella Can you Keep a Secret? inspired me to write. Mark Nepo The book of Awakening. Nepo calls it, "a book to help people meet their days and inhabit their lives.” I’ve read this book for the past three years. Each day has a designated read. This book keeps my perspective in check. It’s definitely a life changer!
BEST MOVIE: I’m a huge fan of romantic comedies. Pretty Woman, Serendipity, When Harry Met Sally and Love Actually are on the top of that list. But, I’m going to go with Big Fish. The main theme in Big Fish is reconciliation. The film is full of color. It inspired me. It reminded me what it’s like to be a child again and to believe in fairytales. A great reminder that our imagination has endless possibilities!
Some of my favorites quotes from Big Fish:
Young Ed Bloom: Now I may not have much, but I have more determination then any man you’re ever likely to meet.
Karl: I don’t want to eat you. I just get so hungry. I’m just too big.
Young Ed Bloom: Has it ever occurred to you that maybe you’re not too big? That maybe this place is just too small?
Will Bloom: A man tells his stories so many times that he becomes the stories. They live on after him, and in that way he becomes immortal.
Young Ed Bloom: You don’t know me, but my name’s Edward Bloom… And I love you.
Will Bloom: [to Ed] You’re like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny combined – just as charming, and just as fake.
BEST LIFE MOMENT: Saying Yes. I moved to New York City twelve years ago and immediately connected to a special area in Central Park called Literary Walk. It’s the only straight line in the park, lined with American elm trees and decorated with statues of prominent writers such as Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott. I had no idea I would be a writer one day and that this landmark would mean more to me today than it did twelve years ago. It’s now a meaningful spot that I will never forget for the rest of my days. On January 27, 2013, I walked there proudly with my new novel in hand, ‘For Internal Use Only,’ and my boyfriend to take a picture with my book. I walked into the park as a proud author and walked out as his fiancé. It was a sparkling moment with all things love.
BEST ADVICE: “Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinion drowned your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs
Thanks, Cari!